DAIL DEBATE

Aviation Regulation Bill 2000 Second Stage Resumed.

Sitting Time
Sitting Date
12:00 (12 o'clock)
15 November 2000

Mr. Kelleher: The number of Deputies offering to speak in this debate
is an indication of the importance of air transport. A large number of informative contributions were made in the Seanad and I am glad to hear the Minister undertake to consider seriously the contributions from all sides in the Seanad.
The primary purpose of the Bill is to establish a commission with
responsibility for five policy areas, the approval of airport and air
traffic control charges; the approval of ground handling service providers at airports; the granting of operating licences to air carriers established in Ireland; the administration of the rules governing the allocation of take-off and landing slots at airports; and the licensing and bonding of travel agents and tour operators. It is appropriate, when there is such an upsurge in air travel in and out of Ireland, that such an imaginative Bill be introduced to regulate the aviation industry.
For many years Irish airports have been underfunded, none more so than Cork Airport. The terminal structure in Cork was intended to cater for a maximum of 1 million people. It now caters for 1.6 million and it is envisaged that in two years it will cater for 2.5 million. Cork Airport has been badly treated by Aer Rianta which has favoured Dublin and Shannon airports. Were it not for the work of the staff at Cork Airport the position would be even worse. The management of Cork Airport has lobbied internally for extra funding for the airport. I pay particular tribute to CAAB and its chairman, Donal Harris, for highlighting issues regarding Cork Airport. While a commitment to spend £60 million on developing Cork Airport over the next number of years is welcome, nothing tangible has been done. This is a cause of concern for the staff of the airport and for the wider community in Cork.
Section to follow:
Section L follows.

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Next Take Number: M
Forum
DÁIL ÉIREANN

Sitting Time
Sitting Date
12:10
15 November 2000
Text:
[Mr. Kelleher continuing]
The fact that Ireland is an island places huge importance on air travel and quality airports for the people arriving in the country. If regional development is to be encouraged, we must ensure that better facilities are available for air travellers and Cork Airport is suffering badly in this regard.
Shannon Airport has a larger marketing budget. Over the years, Cork Airport has not received equitable treatment in terms of marketing and funding from Aer Rianta and other agencies from which Shannon Airport can extract funds. This has put Cork Airport at a disadvantage. While the £60 million investment plan is welcome, it is not enough if regional imbalances are to be addressed. The capital city is bursting at the seams and there is traffic gridlock and a lack of quality public transport. It is a vibrant city, but it is beginning to stifle itself. I do not understand why more emphasis is not placed on developing greater facilities at airports such as Cork and Shannon.
The national development plan will involve the expenditure of £40
billion over the next six years on developing the economy, infrastructure and other areas. The development of the road structure creates great opportunities for Shannon and Cork Airports. For example, there is talk of a motorway or high quality dual carriageway from Cork to Dublin within six years and this would increase accessibility to Cork Airport. This is the type of project that should be considered rather than directing all the funding and development into the already congested area of Dublin.
We should be brave and take a policy decision to encourage air travel into Cork and Shannon Airports. I am confident the national development plan will ensure a proper road structure is in place in a few years which will cater for people who wish to travel from Cork to other parts of the country. It does not make sense to fly people to Dublin, put them in taxis or buses to bring them to Heuston train station and then transport them down the country. We must open up the country and ensure that Cork Airport can cater for larger carriers.
Reference was made to transatlantic flights and I have a major
difficulty with the fact that there are no transatlantic flights to Cork Airport. Another speaker referred to the proposal made last year that a carrier would bring people from Boston to Cork Airport. This was reported in the newspaper and it was stated that Cork would benefit tremendously from it. However, something spiked it and my belief is that there is favouritism within the Aer Rianta management system towards Shannon and Dublin. This is to the detriment of Cork.
Regarding inward investment, a quarter of all US investment in the
European Union is located in Ireland. If we want to continue to attract that type of investment in terms of high quality jobs and facilities, Ireland must be made more accessible from the United States. There should be direct flights from the east coast of America to Cork. There is no traffic congestion in Cork and it also has a large hinterland that could support industry, a quality port, universities and an institute of technology. There are IDA centres throughout Cork and the southern Munster region. The necessary infrastructure is already in place and the only difficulty is that people cannot get to it.
For example, if one is travelling to Cork from New York, Washington or Boston, one must fly to Shannon and then on to Dublin. One must then either fly or get a train to Cork. This is unacceptable for business people and it is an area where the regional imbalances could be addressed. There is continual talk about the fact that the east coast is overcrowded, that too much funding is being given to it and that there is not enough investment in the regions. Making Cork accessible in areas where there is huge potential for more investment is an obvious way to address the imbalance. The United States should be targeted in that regard.
Cork Airport has no air bridges and there are no parking facilities for aeroplanes or passengers' cars. These issues were neglected in the past and efforts are being made to address them now. The £60 million investment proposal over the next five years is intended to increase the terminal capacity to handle 2.5 million passengers per annum by 2003 and to facilitate further expansion thereafter to handle up to 5 million passengers per annum. If Cork Airport had a level playing pitch, it could reach those targets in advance of the timescale outlined by Aer Rianta with regard to the investment.
The development of facilities must be expedited and there is concern in Cork that Aer Rianta at a national level has dragged its feet and that it has not been fully committed to the funding programme outlined in Cork last year. I have been in contact with the company and it told me in a letter that it is pushing ahead but issues arose in relation to planning and other matters. However, £60 million will not address the fundamental problems. It will address the problems that have arisen to date, but it will not cater for future developments.
Given that 1.6 million passengers already use the airport and there is an expectation that this figure will increase to 2.5 million by 2003, a new report on Cork Airport should be commissioned now. It is certain that by the time the current plan has been implemented, it will be necessary to raise the issue in the House with the relevant Minister and to write to Aer Rianta seeking more funding because the airport is underfunded. This happened in Dublin. Work was done there but airline companies are not satisfied with the quality of service provided by Dublin Airport to passengers, although the airport was always the favourite from the point of view of Aer Rianta. It is obvious that this will also happen in Cork in the future. While the short-term problems with regard to the passenger
and cargo terminals, parking facilities for aircraft and air bridges are being addressed, a new study should be commissioned now to consider the future of Cork Airport.
Regarding the extension of the runway, reference was made to the fact that aircraft from the United States cannot fly into Cork Airport. One hears that an aircraft fully laden with passengers, luggage and fuel cannot take off from Cork Airport and fly directly to the United States. If that is the case, the problem must be addressed. We cannot expect an airline to fly people from Cork Airport to Shannon, refuel its aeroplane and fly from there to the United States. There is little difference in the distance between Cork and Shannon Airports and the east coast of the United States, but the need to take off from Cork, land in Shannon, refuel an aircraft and take off again for the United States could involve
passengers having to sit on an aeroplane for an extra two hours.
However, given the changing technology on aircraft which allows them to take off from shorter runways, I am not sure if this is an inhibiting factor in Cork Airport. I ask the Minister to clarify the position. If the largest aircraft that can land in Dublin and Shannon cannot land in Cork, an immediate extension of the runway must be included in the programme to upgrade Cork Airport. In the future, representatives in Cork Airport will approach charter companies to operate routes from the United States to Cork. However, there will always be a difficulty unless fully laden aircraft can take off from the airport and the routes are commercially viable. Shannon and Dublin Airports will always be able to undermine Cork Airport's efforts in this area. I would welcome clarification from the Minister on this point.
Section to follow:
Section M follows.
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Next Take Number: N
Forum
DÁIL ÉIREANN

Sitting Time
Sitting Date
12:20
15 November 2000
Text:
[Mr. Kelleher cont]
A person would be amazed to find that Cork Airport does not have a
representative on the board. This shows the imbalance, the lack of a
level playing pitch when it comes to Cork Airport's position in the
pecking order with Aer Rianta. That was pointed out already with regard to investment but the fact that Cork Airport does not have a member on the board must be addressed immediately if we are to instil confidence in the people in Cork that Aer Rianta will deliver for Cork Airport. Surely, an obvious way to address that issue would be to have a person on the board from Cork Airport, to give it a voice.
There was a reference to the fact that Governments in the past did not support Cork Airport and that there was probably a bigger political lobby in Shannon. I have no doubt that is the case. Any mention of a downgrading of Shannon led to a massive outcry from public representatives of all persuasions and hues, some of which was quite hysterical at times. However, Shannon protected itself and fought a tough battle for a long time. People will argue that since the restrictions on direct flights into Dublin were lifted, Shannon has been downgraded and there is now a complete imbalance with regard to tourism figures. The bed night numbers have gone up dramatically in Dublin and down along the western seaboard. I do not know whether that is because of the lifting of the direct flight restrictions but it should be examined.
Equally, one can argue that it is madness that a person has to fly from Boston to land in Shannon, sit in a plane for three quarters of an hour and take off again and fly to Dublin. If we are to have direct flights, the plane should fly from Boston to Dublin or Boston to Shannon but do not ask that every second plane must land in Shannon. This would damage transatlantic air travel. If more development and funding was provided for Cork and Shannon Airports, they could fight their own battles and have a strategic, coherent policy in place whereby Shannon Airport would target certain cities in the States and Cork Airport would target others. The idea of one airport spending its budget undermining another airport within the same company is unpalatable and unacceptable. That has been happening. It was already referred to with regard to the undermining of Cork Airport and trying to attract a US carrier into Cork from the east coast.
Cork has been successful in niche marketing with regard to flights to Paris and Amsterdam. I am confident that those will expand over time and become more regular, which is very beneficial. Cork Airport is also doing exceptionally well with flights to the south of Spain. This is an area which has taken off with regard to tourism figures. A great many people from the southern part of Munster or greater Munster and parts of south Leinster, are using Cork Airport to fly to Spain because with improving road infrastructure, Cork Airport is becoming more accessible to more people. Rather than a person who is living in Kilkenny or Clonmel, having to drive all the way to Dublin through traffic with the hassles involved, they can drive to a small airport, encountering no problems with traffic congestion in the city itself. The only problem concerns traffic congestion in the airport. While the £60 million investment is very welcome I predict that we will be back in two or three years time stating that funding will have to be reviewed and the whole plan will go back to the drawing board. We will bring forward another proposal for more funding to develop the airport in the years 2010 to 2020 because capacity
will be at crisis point. Why not do this now? We should consider setting up a group that can project the demands that will be placed on Cork Airport and start developing it in a coherent, planned way. Perhaps the Minister could clarify whether US-bound air carriers can take off from Cork Airport on the length of runway currently available.
I look forward to a speedy passage of the Bill through the Houses. It is timely in view of all the comments made in this House and in the Seanad.