Mr. Ronan Gallagher:

I might speak in the abstract then. There is an independent regulator that has carried out detailed work, including an assessment of the capital investment plans of Dublin Airport, and come to a draft position as to what it thinks that will lead to as far as a per-passenger charge is concerned. It would be very surprising if the regulated entity accepted that the first time out of the gate. Therefore, there is a regulated entity saying we need more and a regulator saying we need less. That is the way regulation needs to work. Between now and September, the airlines will have an opportunity to make their views known as to whether they think this will be enough to provide the kinds of services we need at Dublin Airport. The DAA will be available at this point, and there is a process around that.

The CAR statutory requirement aims to ensure that the airport has sufficient revenue and sufficient capital to invest and grow the airport. There is therefore no question of a regulatory determination being put in place that results in the airport making a loss or not being able to afford what it plans to do. There is no question of Exchequer support. The way the system works, though, is that it is subject to annual review. Therefore, if the regulator has undercut or overshot something, it can be corrected when what has happened can be seen.

Our position is to let the independent regulator take that position and to let the industry take a view and to see where that goes. The regulator watches it over time. Part of the issue is that it is very difficult to be certain about capital plans - Deputy MacSharry mentioned this earlier - before planning applications have even been submitted. It is very difficult even to know how to assign a financial allocation over the next five years when a lot of these plans have not even been submitted to the planning authority. This probably explains in part some of the tension surrounding the disagreement as to when these projects might start seeing the ground turned.