Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 24 June 2004
137 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Transport if he will provide details of the cost of consultancies which he has funded in respect of Aer Rianta in 2003-04; if he will provide details of the first PWC report, the second PWC report, the Mazars report and the Farrell Grant Sparks report. [18988/04]
View answerIn March 2003 PricewaterhouseCoopers, PWC, prepared certain financial information for the Department of Transport to assist it in giving policy advice to the Government concerning the programme for Government commitment that Shannon and Cork Airports would have greater autonomy and independence. This analysis of detailed projections provided by Aer Rianta was undertaken by PWC at a cost of €58,685, including VAT.
Following a public tender process conducted in accordance with EU public procurement procedures, my Department engaged a consortium of advisers in November last year comprising PricewaterhouseCoopers, Matheson Ormsby Prentice and a UK based transport consulting firm, Steer Davies Gleave, to advise on all aspects of the preparations, procedures and implementation of the restructuring of the State airports. The matters covered by this contract include advice in relation to corporate finance issues, accounting and tax issues, economic regulation of airports and associated legal advice.
The advisers were not engaged to produce a report but rather to provide, inter alia, expert advice in relation to the options for giving effect to the Government decision of July last to establish the three State airports as independent autonomous authorities under State ownership. The precise cost of the advisers will ultimately depend on the level of expert resources necessary to bring this important project to fruition.
As part of its work, PWC assisted my Department in its analysis of revised and updated financial projections and data provided both by Aer Rianta at group level and by the chairmen-designate in conjunction with local Aer Rianta management at Shannon and Cork Airports. These working papers contain confidential and commercially sensitive information. They were, however, provided to Farrell Grant Sparks and Mazars who were engaged by ICTU and the Aer Rianta unions to examine the financial information on their behalf. Both of these companies entered into a strict confidentiality agreement with my Department in respect of these working papers. The arrangements relating to this latter consultancy, including the cost involved, are a matter between the unions and their advisers. However, at the request of ICTU, my Department agreed to make a contribution of €50,000 maximum towards the cost of the unions' financial advisers.
