Shannon Airport will not be economically viable and Cork Airport will make serious losses if they are run as independent entities, a report commissioned by the Department of Transport has found.
Labour leader Mr Pat Rabbitte revealed selected details of the Price Waterhouse Cooper (PWC) report inside and outside the Dáil today but said he could understand for reasons of "commercial sensitivity" why the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, had not put the document in the public domain.
But he said the conclusions of the report were "striking". "It concludes there would be incremental additional costs imposed because of the imposition of stand-alone status," he said.
Despite its findings, Mr Brennan is pressing ahead with his plan to break up Aer Rianta's three airports at Dublin, Shannon and Cork into three separate companies.
Mr Rabbitte told the Dáil that in light of the PWC report the decision to persist with the break-up appeared "ideologically driven".
Later, Mr Rabbitte expressed concern about the implications of a stock market bond guaranteed by Aer Rianta and the possibility that the proposed break-up could lead to an increase in the company's interest liability.
He also said the report indicated a loss of economies of scale would also hamper the viability of Cork and Shannon.
"It is clear from reading the PWC report that after all debt and interest charges are removed from Dublin and Cork, there are still significant operating costs associated with stand-alone status," he said.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, defended the decision in Dáil. He said the matter had been considered by the Government and it had concluded the airports would still be better served operating as separate companies.
He said all relevant documents would be made available to the unions at Aer Rianta, which yesterday called off industrial action at the airports over Mr Brennan's plan.
The unions are angry at what they see as Mr Brennan's failure to consult them about the plan and have warned that talks with the Department over the coming weeks will be the final chance to avert serious union opposition to the plan.