Using a remote control to cut an on-screen ribbon, the Minister for Education and Science, Mr Martin, yesterday opened the Cork Airport Business Park, the region's first fully digital e-commerce park. The 10 companies already located there employ a total of 350 people, a number that will shortly rise to 1,000. It is expected that about 2,500 people will work there within 14 months.

The park is on a landscaped 45-acre site two minutes from the airport terminal building. It has been developed by Omnistone Ltd, a public/private joint venture between Aer Rianta, ICC Bank and the Marina Commercial Park, which is headed by Mr Gerry Wycherley.

His is one of a number of names linked to a private consortium that is attempting to buy Cork Airport, but he refused to make any comment about this speculation yesterday. Aer Rianta, which is due to be privatised shortly, is opposed to any sale of Dublin, Cork or Shannon airports. Cork Airport Business Park is just the second fully digital industrial park in the State. Companies already located there include cargo carrier Sea Land, pharmaceutical giant Warner-Lambert, which has chosen it as the site of its corporate headquarters, and a number of campus companies from UCC.