The Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, has attacked his predecessor, Senator Mary O'Rourke, over her opposition to the break-up of Aer Rianta, claiming that her policies would have resulted in houses being built on the site of Shannon Airport.
Mr Brennan went on the offensive in the Seanad last night to dismiss claims by Mrs O'Rourke, who is the leader of the Seanad, that "people in the shadows" were influencing the Government's airport policy.
Closing a six-hour debate which heard repeated criticism of the break-up policy, Mr Brennan called for an end to the broader political campaign against the policy. "I am sick and tired of the relentless, personalised campaign that is being fought on a lot of levels and I want an end to it."
Mrs O'Rourke had claimed during the debate on the State Airports Bill that there was "no grand plan" for the break-up and said she was confident that the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, would reject business plans produced for the airports at Dublin, Shannon and Cork.
The former minister for public enterprise also said she was worried that "people in the shadows, of whom we are not aware", were setting the scene for claims that Dublin Airport was an over-crowded disaster-zone to gain currency.
Mr Brennan said he utterly rejected "any suggestion about any shadowy figures" and went on to say that the only interest he ever served in his political life was the public interest. "You're fully entitled to tell me that I'm an eejit, that I'm getting it wrong, that I'm only acting on a hunch, that it's imperfect," he told Mrs O'Rourke, adding that he was entitled to disagree with her point of view.
Mrs O'Rourke favoured opening Aer Rianta to private investment and this inevitably led to private ownership, he said. "What do private owners sitting around the table in Dublin do about Shannon Airport? They build houses on it, that's what they do."
Mr Brennan said the leaking of correspondence to the Government from Aer Rianta about its bonds was reckless and designed to create the erroneous impression of instability.
"There is no such instability," he said.
The debate heard a denunciation of Aer Rianta by Senator Shane Ross, who described the company as an "ugly monster". Questioning whether the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, was fully behind the break-up policy, Senator Ross said the Aer Rianta chairman, Mr Noel Hanlon, and its board should have been sacked for thwarting Mr Brennan.
Senator Feargal Quinn said the break-up initiative was badly conceived and would be singled out "as one of the great follies of our time".
Seanad report: page 6
