Regular users of Dublin and Shannon airports will be relieved to hear that a £120 million investment is to take place in both facilities. It has been apparent for some time that Dublin Airport is incapable of coping efficiently with the existing volume of traffic. The present terminal building was built in 1972 to cater for an annual flow of five million passengers. Subsequent alterations increased the capacity to seven million, but last year eight million people passed through Dublin Airport. The place is straining at the seams. Check in facilities and baggage handling are particular pressure points.
As for Shannon, the problem is not so much" capacity as quality. The arrivals area is grim and lifeless. Only so much can be done to give character to an airport, but even the minimum has not been achieved at Shannon in many years. The contrast with Cork Airport is striking. Cork is user friendly in a way that Shannon is not. The Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, Mr Lowry, has described the appearance of Shannon Airport as "unprepossessing" and it is difficult to disagree. It is an unhappy thought that this is the first introduction to Ireland for most Americans.
On a more encouraging note, part of Shannon Airport's problem is one of success. When the compulsory Shannon stopover was ended by Mr Lowry's predecessor, Mr Brian Cowen, many people in the West of Ireland felt the airport was doomed and that Dublin would cream off its transatlantic business. Instead, both Dublin and Shannon have prospered by the basic market system of offering people choice.
Mr Lowry said it was important that Aer Rianta should continue to provide cost effective airport services so that there is a minimum cost imposition on the movement of passengers and goods. This is a none too subtly coded message that the Minister partly believes the argument put forward by Ryanair that AerRianta's charges are too high. Mr Lowry's nod to the £120 million investment settles for once and for all the idea that Ryanair might develop a commercial airport at Baldonnell, but it is clear that he is exerting, pressure on the State's airport owner not to abuse its monopoly.
Not surprisingly, Aer Rianta's chief executive, Mr Derek Keogh, has chosen to welcome the Minister's acknowledgment that airport charges should "continue" to be cost effective. However, Mr Keogh also draws attention indirectly to an anomaly surrounding the finances of Aer Rianta. The company is highly profitable, reporting a pre tax profit last year of £37.6 million. Of that, £11.9 million was taken as a dividend by the Exchequer. Mr Keogh says Aer Rianta will continue to pay significant dividends directly to the Minister and the Government on behalf of the Irish people.
This is all very well and, no doubt, pleases the Minister for Finance. However, the capital programme announced for Dublin and Shannon is costing £120 million and Aer Rianta says it will finance it from its own resources. These resources include its ability to borrow money from the banks. But what sense does it make for Aer Rianta to pay a dividend to the Exchequer when it must now borrow that amount - and more to finance its own investment programme? Mr Lowry should end this schizophrenic approach to the development of a company in his charge.