Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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Could Mr. Doyle let me know when someone within the Department first found out? I would appreciate it if he could also provide me with correspondence - e-mails or letters - between the Dublin Airport Authority, DAA, and the Department about this matter over the past 15 months? There might not be much material but I would appreciate it if we could receive it. The DAA, which is an agency under the remit of the Department, sold a project that was then supported for bringing transatlantic flights to Cork. What we have today is an announcement that is effectively part of an agenda to bring a third terminal to Dublin. Coincidentally, the Minister announced a few days ago that a study into a third terminal would take place. What we have here is a strangulation of the other airports. After today, I have no confidence in the board of the DAA. By using Cork as a Trojan horse, the DAA has effectively pushed up passenger numbers for Dublin. I welcome the fact that Norwegian Airlines is being brought in but the way this was done needs to be investigated. We need to get to the bottom of what was really going on here. If you look at projections for all other airports in this country, from 2012 to now, Dublin has gone from 81% to 86% of all passengers while all other airports have gone down. Mr. Doyle has a very good knowledge of this area. I want to find out how long this was going on. As far as I am concerned, there was a DAA agenda and I want to know whether or not the Department was complicit in this. I take Mr. Doyle's bona fides. He told me that he only found out a couple of weeks ago. I want to know who in the Department first knew about this.