Ahern to face Cork anger on airport

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will be called to address the €220m airport debt issue as part of his visit to Cork next week.

Members of Cork Airport Consultative Committee (CACC) have called a meeting with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, who is due to visit the city on Friday November 23.

This will be the Taoiseach’s first visit to Cork, following the General Election.

The members agreed that the debt issue needs to be properly addressed at Government level, in a bid to step up the campaign to secure Cork Airport’s debt-free independence.

As members gathered at the CACC meeting, earlier this week, the Taoiseach was at Dublin airport, opening the new Pier D terminal. The new €120m facility will cater for around 27,000 passengers every day.

There were anger at the absence of Chairman Joe Gantly at Monday’s meeting - because of his wish to brief the board of the Cork Airport Authority (CAA) on his recent meeting with Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey before addressing the CACC.

CACC member, Deputy Simon Coveney said; “What is happening at board level in Cork? Members still have not got an update, two weeks after the meeting took place, and it will be two more weeks before public representatives are briefed at all.

“There seems to be a total disconnect between what happened (at the meeting with the Minister) and what is happening here. It makes us look foolish and amateurish,” he said.

A spokesperson said it is not common practice for Mr Gantly to attend the CACC meeting, despite routinely attending previous meetings.

“Mr Gantly received no invitation to the meeting and in addition to this, needs to brief the members of the CAA board before briefing public representatives on his meeting with the Minister for Transport,” the spokesperson said.

Article courtesy of The Evening Echo newspaper