The Progressive Democrats distanced themselves last night from the Government's decision to ask the Cork Airport Authority (CAA) to pay €100 million towards the cost of its new terminal.
The party chairman, Senator John Minihan, joined the Opposition in condemning the proposal, while a party spokesman maintained it was not involved in the decision at Government level.
Mr Minihan, who is a PD candidate in Cork in the forthcoming election, said he was furious at the Government move to seek €100 million from the CAA towards the cost of the new terminal and other developments at the airport despite a pledge by the then minister for transport Séamus Brennan in 2003 that the airport would be debt free.
A party spokesman said that the deliberations regarding the debt position of the CAA was a matter being dealt with by the Department of Transport.
"The current development has not involved any specific Cabinet decision. The Progressive Democrat Ministers have not been involved in the deliberations and would not have expected to be." Mr Minihan told The Irish Times that the Government should honour the commitment made by Mr Brennan in 2003.
"I want to know what has happened since then and how has this figure of €100 million been derived?"
Mr Minihan said that failure to honour Mr Brennan's commitment could cost the Government seats in Cork as the electorate would be entitled to question the Government's commitment to Cork and to regional development.
The Irish Times understands that Cork airport is listed as owing €220 million to the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) with €90 million owing on the new terminal building, a further €90 million on ancillary new facilities and €40 million in a long-standing debt.
Meanwhile, Opposition politicians strongly attacked the decision and Cork business leaders also expressed their concern that Cork airport would not start its independent existence debt free.
Fine Gael Cork South Central TD, Simon Coveney, said the decision was the "most blatant breach of political promise in Cork" by this Government and the Government's six TDs in Cork city "should hang their heads in shame as they been outflanked politically by the DAA".
Labour Cork North Central TD, Kathleen Lynch, said the Government's decision to seek €100 million from Cork airport was jeopardising its future viability and would mean Cork would have serious difficulty competing with Dublin and Shannon.
Green Party Cork South Central TD, Dan Boyle, said the €100 million debt amounted to a "typical Fianna Fáil fudge" which would put "a millstone around Cork airport's neck" that would inevitably force it to increase its charges to pay off the debt.
Cork East Fianna Fáil TD, Ned O'Keeffe, said that he never believed Mr Brennan's commitment could be honoured and the decision by the current Minister Martin Cullen to ask the DAA to pay €120 million was "a generous gesture towards Cork".
"I'm fully behind Minister Cullen's decision to grant €120 million toward the development of Cork which is over 50 per cent of the debt.
"It's a generous gesture, so I'm asking the CAA to get on with the job off running the airport and give over the whingeing," he said.
However, Cork Chamber president, Roger Flack, said: "It's incredible to think that Government in the run-up to an election can attempt to bury this issue and expect Cork airport to embark on commercial activity with a €100 million debt in place."