• Minister for Transport, Darragh O’Brien TD; Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Jerry Buttimer TD and representatives of Department of Transport visited Cork Airport yesterday.
• Both Ministers and department officials were presented with an update on daa Group’s €200 million capital development investment in Cork Airport.
• Ministers O’Brien and Buttimer performed the official opening of the airport’s newly reconstructed staff and goods security screening area, which was delivered on-time and on-budget.
• The visit also included a tour of the new mezzanine floor and passenger security screening area, which is progressing on-time and on-budget for a December 2026 opening.
• The Ministers and departmental delegation congratulated Cork Airport and their contractors for their progress on the capital development programme.

Cork Airport hosted a high-level ministerial visit yesterday as Minister for Transport, Darragh O’Brien TD and Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Jerry Buttimer TD, together with department officials, visited the airport to see the early stages of daa Group’s €200 million capital development plan at Cork Airport take shape.

The Ministers and their officials were welcomed by airport managing director, Niall MacCarthy and airport management and received a detailed briefing on the various elements of the €200 million capital development programme. Following the briefing, the Ministers performed the official ribbon cutting ceremony for the new staff and goods security screening area, which was completed over a three-month period, on-time and on-budget by PJ Hegarty & Sons., working with daa Infrastructure and AtkinsRéalis, the design team.

The Ministers and department officials also had the opportunity to take a tour and view the progress on the new mezzanine floor, which will be the location of the airport’s new passenger security screening area. This facility, which will open in December of this year, is also progressing on-time and on-budget and the Ministers were provided with a tour by representatives of PJ Hegarty & Sons., construction partners for the project along with members of the daa Infrastructure team.

As he welcomed both Minister Darragh O’Brien and Minister of State, Jerry Buttimer, Managing Director at Cork Airport, Niall MacCarthy said: “Cork Airport experienced its highest ever passenger numbers last year and was named Best Regional Airport in Europe by ACI Europe. Our capital programme, once complete, will put in the infrastructure to handle five million passengers and beyond. We are proud of delivering quality infrastructure projects, on-time and on-budget, and compliment our construction partners and team.”

Speaking on the occasion of his visit to Cork Airport, Minister for Transport, Darragh O’Brien TD said: “It’s a pleasure to visit Cork Airport today, as our second largest State airport. I am heartened to see that daa’s capital programme is proceeding at pace and demonstrating on-time, on-budget delivery. Once completed, this development programme will deliver efficiencies along with a better passenger experience for all those who will travel through the airport.”

Echoing Minister O’Brien’s comments, Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Jerry Buttimer TD added: “Cork Airport supports over 12,000 jobs in our region and is responsible for an economic impact of over €1 billion. I’m delighted to see the infrastructure expansion and I am engaging strongly to improve public transport links to make the airport more accessible across the region.”