CATIII is probably just too much to achieve for Cork from a technical point of view. My understanding is that CATII was just achievable for Cork and in low visibility conditions CATII has on the whole been sufficient for operations at Cork. This is one of the reasons why it has been so important for Cork to have the CATII ILS to 17 back up and working as it is generally fairly rare for the low visibility RVRs to go below the CATII minima - that has been my experience down the years.
Anyway, to the best of my knowledge there was no Calibrator working the ILS at Cork on Wednesday evening and if I am mistaken I will eat me hat!
Let us hope there is some movement tomorrow on the subject.
Cork Airport deserves to have a fully functioning ILS to runway 17/35 and that must also mean a fully functioning CATII landing system to runway 17 to be restored without delay. The IAA were quick to bring up the matter of safety in their recent statements - Cork Airport passengers deserve as much and cost should not have to be much of a factor. The IAA's haul of money every year must be very considerable and paying for the Cork ILS to be restored should be the very least they can do for Cork, Cork Airport and her passengers.
There is no excuse for a repeat of last Friday's debacle at Cork Airport anytime soon.