Documents supplied to the trade unions by the Department of Transport have failed to show that Shannon and Cork airports can be viable as standalone entities, according to an analysis by two consultancy firms. Chris Dooley, Industry and Employment Correspondent, reports.

They said the documents provided "no comfort" to Aer Rianta staff and did not present a business case for the firm's planned break-up. Consultants Mazars and Farrell Grant Sparks were hired by SIPTU and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions to examine the financial information underpinning the break up.

They were given the information, written by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), on April 30th and should report to the unions by Friday. But a preliminary report was supplied on Monday to ICTU general secretary Mr David Begg and SIPTU president Mr Jack O'Connor.

A letter to the two, signed by representatives of both consultancies, says the PwC papers are not, "as might have been expected, a report, nor do the authors PwC refer to them as such".

No conclusion has been furnished in the papers and no due diligence or audit was undertaken by PwC in presenting them, the letter says.

"They are not intended to present a business case, nor do they constitute an appraisal or valuation of any of the securities, assets or businesses of Aer Rianta."

The PwC documents, adds the letter, state that "it is not intended to express any opinion as to the financial viability of an independent Cork or Shannon Airport".

"Furthermore, the PwC working papers acknowledge that they do not take into account the many potentially complex operational issues of a separation that need to be addressed."

The consultants' letter adds that the PwC commentary was extracted from documents prepared by Aer Rianta for presentation to the international financial rating agency Standard & Poor's. But these documents, it says, were not prepared in the context of Dublin, Shannon and Cork airports being established as independent entities.

Given the limitations of the PwC papers, the consultants say they can provide "no comfort" to employees that the planned break up would successfully address the challenges facing Aer Rianta. They also say they are "taken aback" at the limited time given to unions to respond to the PwC papers.

The consultants' findings will bolster the unions' argument that the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, has failed to make the business case for Aer Rianta's break up.

Union leaders are particularly angry at an assertion by the Minister, in a letter to Mr Begg on Friday, that he had never given a commitment that all issues of concern to unions would be finalised through negotiations before the legislation providing for the break up was finalised.

In a letter to Mr Begg on January 19th, Mr Brennan said he hoped arrangements could be worked out in consultation with the unions "and your views taken fully into account before finalising the legislation with Government".