The Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, said yesterday he was committed to maintaining the current levels of subvention for the country's six regional airports to facilitate access to Dublin. Anne Lucey reports.
However, Mr Brennan also told members of the board of Kerry Airport in Farranfore yesterday that he wanted to see "strategically-placed" airports like Kerry, which was in profit, developing transatlantic charter routes.
Some airports would also need to "reconfigure flights" to retain their current levels of support.
There was "a lot of pressure on the PSO (public service obligation) money", he added. A review had been commissioned, and this would be ready in June 2005
This year €22.6 million is being spent on PSO support to private airlines such as Aer Arann for routes from Galway, Kerry, Knock, Sligo, Donegal and Derry to Dublin, and on marketing grants for the six airports.
Mr Brennan also promised to "at least" maintain Kerry Airport's €400,000 marketing grant.
"Kerry is more famous in the US than Ireland is. It already has a transatlantic runway capable of taking 757s .
"The airport is very strategically-placed. I am encouraging them to develop a transatlantic charter business."
He also promised "some assistance" for the airport's urgently- required €8 million capital programme. This involves baggage-handling facilities, extra fire services, an arrivals hall, and other facilities to cater for a dramatic growth in passenger numbers over the past two years.
The Minister told board members that the money given would be prioritised for safety and items that brought in extra business.
The airport and tourism in Kerry has benefited hugely from the Ryanair decision last year to move its Frankfurt Hahn daily flight from Shannon to Kerry.
It now brings over 100,000 passengers into Kerry from Germany.
Some 300,000 passengers used the airport in 2003, and a profit of €251,000 was recorded.
For airports such as Kerry, Government support was "not the answer", Mr Brennan insisted.
"The real future for Kerry is developing more and more business."
He added that London, Dublin, Manchester and the US were core routes for Kerry.
Asked about the future of the Aer Rianta-controlled Great Southern Hotel Group, which employs some 300 people in two Kerry hotels and is to be transferred to the new Dublin Airport Company, Mr Brennan said the issue was what was best for the future of the hotel chain.
He added that a report on the hotels would be finalised in October.
However, Mr Brennan said he would insist on consultation with trade union and staff representatives before any final decision on whether to sell off the group was taken.
Compulsory redundancies was "not the way State companies did business", he said when speaking of Aer Lingus job cuts.
Mr Brennan was speaking at a sod-turning ceremony for a €14.6 million road improvement scheme on the Tralee-Killarney corridor.