Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

I am inclined to agree with the Minister about the lack of examples of competing terminals and that this is a step in the dark. Does the Minister agree that it was irresponsible of his Department and his predecessor to search for expressions of interest and to put 13 firms and a 14th firm more recently to the expense of making proposals if there was no intention of pursuing them? I have heard the Minister express the view that his mandate and that of the Dublin Airport Authority is to provide the services of Dublin Airport by maximising the use of its lands. Does the Minister not agree that the constrained nature of the site means that it is too small and that every report that has ever been made on the matter, including the DAA's, states the location will always be inherently inefficient, not just during the construction phase, and will need to be replaced by the famous third terminal even if we do go ahead with this project?

Why is the Minister fixated on this site given all that is wrong with it and the indications from reports that it is not the right site? Has this to do with not upsetting the Taoiseach and, therefore, not upsetting the Taoiseach's unions? Surely the only issue that matters is that Dublin can compete with other capital city airports and not just with terminals within Ireland. This is the type of competition we need and the type we must face up to. What matters is getting the right site that is big enough to give us growth capacity and not who owns it. The DAA must go out and search for business. It has had it so easy as business has come to it but it has made no effort to accommodate this business over the past ten years. Extra capacity is needed if the DAA is to compete with other airports.

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