Mr. Michael O'Leary:

One has a regulated monopoly here. Heathrow Airport is the same. Heathrow Airport's response to the Covid-19 crisis was to put up charges by 50%. If one is a regulated monopoly, the easier way to make more profit is to get the regulator to increase one’s charges and to then say “sorry, we just have to charge higher prices because of all this vital infrastructure we have". In the private sector, I have to spend €20 billion in the next five years buying 200 new aircraft. I cannot go to anybody to ask if I can put my prices up because I am spending €20 billion on new aircraft. I do not have any consultants report to justify it and must live within my means to try to fill those aircraft. I know of no other airport in Europe, and can find no such example that is not a regulated monopoly, that would come up with a crazy plan to tunnel under an existing taxiway that one can drive across quite readily, and spend €200 million doing so.

The Deputy must understand that the DAA is a big beast. There is a very significant infrastructure at middle management level in the DAA of architects, planners, developers and project managers who will all be out of jobs if one cannot keep feeding this monster.