DAA separation ‘fraught with danger’

THE separation of Shannon from the Dublin Airport Authority is fraught with danger according to Clare TD Timmy Dooley.

 

The Fianna Fáil TD claimed if Shannon had been separated before Ryanair made its mass cull of services, it would have been forced to close.

He also said, in his opinion, it is very important that Shannon retain some access to the profits of Aer Rianta International and he will be bringing a motion on this to the Dáil.

Speaking to The Clare Champion on Wednesday, the Clare TD warned there will be no safety net after separation. “I’ve been against the separation because I’ve felt that Shannon will find it extremely difficult to survive in an independent environment without State support. It won’t be possible for the State to support it under State aid rules and it won’t be able to benefit from any surplus funds that would become available from the DAA, which is what currently happens. I would accept separation and the establishment of an independent airport if it was clear that there is a viable business plan, and the only way that can be achieved, in my view, is if the assets of Aer Rianta International (ARI) form part of the separated authority.”

He said he will be looking for support from his fellow Clare members of the Oireachtas in retaining Shannon links to the ultra-lucrative ARI. “This week, on Friday, when Micheál Martin is in the county I will publish an amendment to the 2004 State Airports Act which, if passed by the Dáil, will assign the assets of ARI to the new entity. We’ll be looking for the support of the Oireachtas members from Clare, in the Senate and the Dáil. They’ll have the opportunity when the legislation comes before the Dáil to give Shannon a viable future.”

The chances of getting a rethink on ARI are extremely slim, given that Minister Leo Varadkar recently stated in the Dáil that it would be staying with the DAA. However, Mr Dooley said he would be pressing ahead. “Mr Varadkar is the Minister for Transport but he’s a Dublin TD. The Fine Gael lads talked about a viable future for Shannon, the Labour deputy has made it very clear he supports Shannon; remember both Fine Gael and Labour had separate policy documents that they circulated to the electorate before the election, where they had pictures of themselves at the airport and they talked about what they were going to do and not going to do. Here’s an opportunity now to put the future of Shannon on a secure footing and I’m giving them the vehicle to do it. If they haven’t been able to convince the minister they can certainly come in and support the legislation which we’ll bring before the Dáil.”

While it looks like Shannon will benefit from increased Ryanair services after separation, he said this alone wouldn’t suffice. “It would be very foolish to think that Ryanair will save the future of the airport. It’s an exceptionally important customer and I think Michael O’Leary needs to be worked with and facilitated but the airport needs a sound basis on which to offer its services to all airlines.”

Fine Gael deputies confident of future
CLARE Fine Gael TDs Joe Carey and Pat Breen say they are confident about Shannon’s prospects following separation from the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA).

“I’m very confident it’ll work, there’s a real hunger out there at the moment and a very good taskforce in place. There’s a lot of moves to attract more airlines in and it will happen,” said Deputy Breen.

While Deputy Timmy Dooley warned if Shannon had been separated when it suffered a shock like the loss of a massive number of Ryanair services that it would have closed, Deputy Breen said it won’t be as vulnerable in the future.

“My understanding is that Shannon won’t have all its eggs in one basket. There will be diversity of business in the aviation sector and it’s important to have a combination of scheduled flights and aviation related industries, all that area. It’s a difficult environment at the moment, there’s no doubt about that, but with a new team in place, a new board, a new CEO and that position will be advertised shortly, I think the airport will have a bright future. I’m confident it will actually.”

Speaking about Deputy Dooley’s proposal to have Aer Rianta International retained by the new Shannon entity, he said, “It’s a pity Timmy Dooley and his government didn’t do all these things a couple of years ago.

“ARI did start in Shannon and I would have liked to see it stay in Shannon but obviously there’s a big debt and also ARI isn’t as profitable as it was in the past. I would have liked to see it stay in Shannon but if it’s going to be independent, there has to be some compromise as well. It’s important that Shannon starts off on a sound financial footing and I think the minister is putting that in place.”

Deputy Joe Carey said it is important that Shannon gets out of DAA control. “A lot of work has been done and this needs to be given a chance. We are in a situation where Shannon is on its knees and under the DAA, Shannon has been reduced to just 8% of all traffic, whereas Dublin has 81% and Cork 11%.”

He expects to see progress being made quite soon. “I’m looking forward to the next step in the process where the steering groups will report to Ministers Bruton and Varadkar in mid-November and a decision can be brought to the Cabinet thereafter and we can move on with the appointment of a new CEO and a new board.”