Fury Erupts as Dublin Airport Evades Deal to Pay All of Cork's Debt

THE Dublin Airport Authority has been ordered by ministers to take on E120million of debt from Cork Airport.

Cork Airport Authority has to shoulder the remainder of the E220million debt in a deal which sparked fury last night.

The instruction was made in an effort to end the ongoing controversy over who would pay the airport's debt.

Fine Gael MEP, Simon Coveney, said the move was the most ' blatant breach' of a political promise in Cork during the lifetime of the Government.

The row erupted as management at Shannon Airport withdrew a E35million restructuring and redundancy deal from workers.

Mr Coveney said: 'When Aer Rianta was split up and Cork, Shannon and Dublin Airports agreed to go it alone, the Government gave an absolute assurance in writing, later confirmed by the Taoiseach in the Dil and directly to the staff in Cork Airport, that Cork Airport would not be saddled with the debt associated with the building of its new terminal.

'The agreement was that the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) would take on this debt and in return the DAA was compensated by taking over the assets of the Great Southern Hotel Group and Aer Rianta International. It's worth noting that the DAA have since sold the Great Southern Hotel Group for E220million more than the cost of building Cork's new terminal.' He said for Cork to be saddled with the debt means that passengers will have to pay a levy making Cork Airport less competitive than it should have been if the Government had kept its promise to allow Cork Airport to begin debt free.

Mr Coveney said: 'The six Government TDs in Cork city should hang their heads in shame as they have been outflanked and out manoeuvred politically by the DAA.

'My understanding is that this decision has been taken by the Taoiseach himself to finalise the debt issue relating to Cork Airport.

'He has clearly demonstrated that Cork is not a political priority, even three months out from a General Election.

'Finally to add insult to injury the DAA are insisting on taking ownership of some of the development land attached to Cork Airport.

This claim must be strongly resisted as it is a valuable landbank that should be in the ownership of Cork Airport.' Workers at Shannon Airport have requested an meeting with Transport Minister Martin Cullen after the Shannon Airport Authority withdrew a restructuring package.

The company is now carrying out an 'urgent review of all of its costs'.

The company has been negotiating with workers on the deal for more that two years.

The SAA said it must act to turn Shannon into a modern, well serviced airport.

Siptu said a ballot of its members has returned an 80 per cent vote against the plan, while other unions, Impact and the TEEU, have also rejected the proposals by 90 per cent and 65 per cent respectively.

The cost- cutting measures include 200 voluntary redundancies and the outsourcing of jobs and services at Shannon.