The Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, has said he remains confident the break up of Aer Rianta will be completed this summer.
Yesterday Mr Brennan named the members of the new Dublin Airport authority, among them former AIB executive Mr Anthony Spollen, motor trade entrepreneur Mr Bill Cullen and Ms Mary Davis, chief executive of the Special Olympics.
The new board, to be chaired by Mr Gary McGann, Jefferson Smurfit Group chief executive, will eventually consist of 12 members, including four worker-directors. It will be responsible for Dublin Airport, currently the responsibility of Aer Rianta.
Despite difficulties surrounding the break-up plan, Mr Brennan said amending legislation setting Dublin, Cork and Shannon up as autonomous authorities would be placed before the Dáil soon.
He said the changes would be completed "within the time frame of 12 months decided by the Government in its formal decision of July 2003".
"I can assure all involved that intensive work is continuing in progressing the completion of broad financial projections for the three airports that will, of course, be shared with the trade unions," said Mr Brennan. "In parallel with this exercise, we are moving towards completing the legislation necessary for the restructuring so that it can be published and introduced soon into Dáil Éireann."
The reaction from trade unions to the announcement was negative. SIPTU's national industrial secretary, Mr Michael Halpenny, said it undermined the "partnership process".
"The likely effect of today's announcement will be to undermine the credibility of the partnership process which the Government said it was committed to," Mr Halpenny said. "The Aer Rianta unions had been given undertakings that the examination of key financial information by them would take place before any legislation was finalised."
The announcement was also strongly criticised by the regional secretary of the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union, Mr Arthur Hall.
"Unions are in a complex and sensitive series of talks with Department officials and this mischievous announcement by the Minister is ill-timed and badly judged. It will only inflame people's feelings at the airports.
"It also flies in the spirit of the Minister's own commitments to the unions. It is obvious the Minister is, on the one hand in dialogue with the unions and, on the other hand, is deliberately baiting people into a situation where they will react negatively to this new development," he said.
But Mr Brennan said the new board had the vision and commitment to attract more customers and significantly grow the airport in a new competitive environment.
The other members of the Dublin board are: Sir Michael Hodgkinson, former chief executive of the British Airport Authority; Mr Colm Barrington, a former GPA executive; Ms Marie O'Connor, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers; and Mr Desmond Cummins, from the Small Firms Association.
The trade unions have been asked to nominate the four worker-director positions.
