Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 30 May 2017
578. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his views on the recent announcement by the European Commission regarding state aid and regional airports; the implications of this decision for Ireland West Airport, Knock; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25303/17]
View answer579. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his plans for the capital plan review with regard to regional airport funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25304/17]
View answer598. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his plans to review the policy regarding investment in ports and airports in the west of Ireland in view of the new state aid rules approved by the European Commission on 17 May 2017 (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25596/17]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 578, 579 and 598 together.
The recent amendment to the 2014 EU General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER) exempts certain categories of State aid from the requirement of prior notification to the Commission for ports and airports, if these are unlikely to distort competition in the Single Market.
The new provisions on ports in the Regulation will not have any immediate impact for Irish ports given that there is currently no Exchequer funding for Irish ports.
The governance model for ports in Ireland is broadly in line with that elsewhere in Europe. This model is one of publicly-owned port authorities with high levels of private sector involvement in the provision of infrastructure and services. Irish ports operate on a commercial basis and are expected to fund their activities and capital infrastructure investment.
National Ports Policy 2013 indicates clearly that it is the current policy of the Irish Government that no Exchequer funding is provided to any port. This has been the position since 2005 policy. Therefore, GBER does not currently apply. Government Policy on the matter remains unaltered at this time and there are no plans to change this position.
In relation to airports, the National Airports Policy 2015 sets out clearly the policy for Exchequer support under the Regional Airports Programme for the four regional airports at Donegal, Ireland West Airport Knock (IWAK), Kerry and Waterford. This support is provided to the regional airports for safety and security related projects and activities over a multiannual period.
Given current policy, the recent amendment to GBER will have limited impact for our regional airports, since Ireland has already received State-aid clearance from the EU Commission in 2015 for our current, five-year, Regional Airports Programme 2015-2019.
There is one new concession in the revised GBER regime that would be relevant to Donegal and Waterford, and that is that they would be eligible for aid towards operating losses, if incurred. In practice, Waterford is already eligible for this kind of operational support under our current Regional Airports Programme. This provision does not apply to airports that handle more than 200,000 passengers annually such as IWAK.
In addition to the funding approved under the Regional Airports Programme 2015-2019, the Programme for Government contains a commitment to provide an additional €10 million over the lifetime of the Capital Plan to support the four regional airports. This additional commitment, together with other Programme for Government commitments of a capital nature, is part of the mid-term review of the Capital Plan which is currently underway and my Department has made a submission to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in this regard.
