Airport chairman pulls out of hearing

THE new chairman of the Cork Airport Authority has pulled out of a scheduled appearance before an Oireachtas hearing today.

Gerry Walsh, the former chief executive of Bord Gáis who was appointed as CAA chairman at the start of November, will not address the Joint Oireachtas Committee on transport this afternoon.

Mr Walsh had been invited to appear before the committee to outline the CAA’s views on Government plans to grant independence to the airport authorities at Cork and Shannon from their parent body, Dublin Airport Authority.

It is understood Mr Walsh requested the meeting be rescheduled as he has only been in his position for a fortnight. However, he has stated his willingness to appear before the committee in the next few weeks.

TDs and Senators on the committee had been anxious to quiz Mr Walsh about his reaction to recent reports that Transport Minister Noel Dempsey had indicated that the planned separation of the three State airports may not go ahead due to changing economic circumstances within the aviation industry.

Although Cork and Shannon have submitted their own plans for their proposed independence, Mr Dempsey is still awaiting a report from the Dublin Airport Authority on the viability of allowing the two Munster airports to operate as standalone entities.

Mr Walsh’s predecessor, Joe Gantly, resigned as CAA chairman last April after using his casting vote at a board meeting to accept a debt of €113m on Cork Airport’s new terminal as part of gaining independence from the DAA.

Opposition parties have criticised the agreement as running contrary to the promise by the Government to grant Cork and Shannon debt-free independence when the formal decision to separate them was first announced under the State Airports Act in 2004.