MINISTER FOR Transport Noel Dempsey is expected to announce next week his decision to defer the financial separation of Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports for at least three years.

It is understood that Mr Dempsey recently received a "composite report" from the Dublin Airport Authority, which outlined the business cases for all three airports as stand-alone entities.

The Minister is believed to have decided that it would be unwise to proceed with separation at this point given the current economic climate and the sharp decline in consumer demand. He is expected to kick separation out until 2011.

Concerns have been raised about the ability of Shannon and Cork to operate independently of Dublin given the recession and the likely downturn in passenger travel in 2009.

Siptu, Ireland's largest trade union, yesterday said that it would support a decision to defer the separation of the three international airports. "We welcome the decision, if it is true, that the Government is to defer for three years the break-up of the DAA," said Cork-based Siptu regional secretary Gene Mealy.

"It was never a good idea. It was a PD-inspired project designed to promote the Ryanair agenda. The only potential beneficiary was Ryanair, which would then have been in a position to dictate conditions to every airport in the country."

Mr Mealy said it would be "sheer, unadulterated madness" to separate the airports in the current economic climate.

Separation was first proposed in 2003 by former transport minister Séamus Brennan. He laid out a plan to break up the former Aer Rianta and give Cork and Shannon their independence on a debt-free basis. It was subsequently decided that Cork should assume €113 million worth of debt relating to its new terminal building as part of any separation.