Cork Airport debt - Disappointing ultimatum

SO, IT’S take it or leave it. Transport Minister Noel Dempsey has told the Cork Airport Authority to accept €113 million of the airport’s €220m debt or remain under the control of Dublin Airport Authority.

As broken promises go this is one that is up there with 4,000 new teachers to cut class sizes and decentralisation. Once again we must wonder how Séamus Brennan’s promise of a debt-free, clean sheet start for the airport can be ignored as if it was nothing more than a pat on the head you’d give a stranger’s dog.

It may have been naive to expect that the facility would be transferred completely debt-free but debt of that magnitude will prove to be a considerable burden on what is a regional airport with finite potential.

At this stage it must be asked if this debt issue is more about limiting a rival’s potential rather than finance.

However, one question has been answered: the principles of regional development have been very badly served by this Government and their senior representatives in the region on this vexed and divisive issue.