A REPORT TO be presented to the cabinet this week will propose a plan to sell off Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports as well as state-owned sea ports around the country.
The review group on State assets is understood to be proposing that the three airports along with sea ports at Dublin, Cork, Foynes and Waterford be sold off as part of a coalition promise to generate “up to €2 billion” through the sale of non-strategic assets, reports The Sunday Times (subscription required).
The current €750 million debt of Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), which owns Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports, would make a sell-off unlikely in the short term but the group, led by economist Colm McCarthy, believe that a debt reduction plan could allow a sell off in the medium term.
However, the proposal could put Fine Gael and Labour at odds with Labour ministers who would be expected to resist the sell off according to one prominent backbencher.
Tommy Broughan told the newspaper “people would be upset at any conceivable idea of selling the major national airports,” citing the “disastrous” privatisation of Eircom in the 1990s.
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