Cork Airport debt - Government must honour promise

GOVERNMENT balking on a cut-and-dried promise it had made in relation to Cork Airport’s debt-free status is palpably jeopardising the economic welfare of the city and the wider Munster region.

If there were any doubt that the U-turn it is now executing would not cost the region economically, then the proof can be evinced in yesterday’s decision by Ryanair.

The airline’s decision to reduce its service between Cork and Liverpool from seven to four flights each week is because of higher cost increases imposed in Cork directly because of the debt.

What it means in practical terms is that the loss of those flights will deprive Cork Airport of 20,000 passengers annually, who were expected to bring in €8 million in revenue to the Munster region.

Because of the increased prices, defended by Cork Airport management, Ryanair now considers it to be “massively uncompetitive” in comparison to its peer airports in Europe.

The low-cost airline maintain that the increases will add €30,000 to their costs.

Consequently, the seeming incredulity expressed by Transport Minister Martin Cullen that it should be debt-free with the completion of the new facilities is nothing short of mischievousness.

His assertion in the Dáil that the position “is being adopted” that an entire new terminal should be debt-free and that the debt should be absorbed by the Dublin Airport Authority is outrageous.

He would have those unaware of the facts understand that such a proposal was merely plucked out of the air recently, instead of being official Government policy.

Precisely, it was a policy of the Government of which he is a Cabinet member and was declared to be so by his predecessor, Seamus Brennan, in 2003.

In announcing the break-up of Aer Rianta then, the former Transport Minister gave an unequivocal guarantee on behalf of the Government that Cork and Shannon airports would start independent operations debt-free.

It was a crucial commitment for the Cork airport, which will soon open the new terminal, at a cost of between €160 million and €200m, because it was fast running out of space.

A total of 2.7 million visitors passed through the airport in 2005 - up 20% since 2004.

If the Government does not adhere to its original promise, Cork Airport Authority has already warned that it will be forced to implement huge hikes if the airport is to be shouldered with the debt. Inevitably, it would become more and more uncompetitive.

There is an urgency attached to the dilemma faced by the airport which can only be addressed by Government action and it is long gone beyond the stage where it should act.

There can be only one resolution to the problem and that is for the Government to honour its pledge.