Cork Airport Authority requests urgent meeting on debt

The board of Cork Airport Authority (CAA) has announced its intention to resubmit its business plan to the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) and the Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey.

The plan will reiterate the authority's position on the airport's controversial debt issue, with a request for a meeting within one month with the Minister and chairman of the DAA .

The €220 million debt owed by CAA to the Dublin Airport Authority following the break-up of Aer Rianta consists of some €90 million owed on the new terminal building and a further €90 million on new ancillary facilities as well as a long-standing debt of €40 million.

The preparation of a business plan is a requirement under the State's Airport Act for separation of Cork airport from the DAA. No details of the plan are being released at this juncture.

The chairman of CAA Joe Gantly met with members of his board earlier this month to give them an outline on his recent discussions on the debt issue with Mr Dempsey.

Meanwhile, at a meeting of the Cork Airport Consultative Committee last week calls were made on the Taoiseach and Transport Minister to come to the city as a matter of urgency to discuss the controversial debt issue.

The committee reiterated Cork's need to be debt free in order to compete on an equal footing with Dublin and Shannon.

Cllr Mick O'Connell said "definitive answers" were needed on the issue of debt at Cork airport. He said the Dublin Airport Authority was sticking firmly to its demand that Cork will have to pay at least €100 million of its €220 million debt.

Cllr O'Connell said a meeting needed to be arranged with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Noel Dempsey as soon as possible.

Local politicians and councillors insist these should be the best of times at Cork airport with passenger numbers growing consistently and a new terminal building.

But there is frustration within the board of Cork airport that three years into its five-year term, little progress has been made on the primary objective it was set up to achieve - the separation of Cork from Dublin airport.

That is largely because of the continuing row over who will pay the €220m debts at Cork.

The row stems from a promise by the then minister for transport Séamus Brennan in 2003. He said Cork airport would be debt-free when it gained independence.