Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

The DAA participated in the process in the sense that it was involved in consultations on standards and so on in regard to the second terminal. However, it did not participate in the tender procedure. The process that was recommended to me was that the DAA would submit a benchmark for the operation of the terminal. The idea was that when we decided which facilities and so on would be managed, the authority would submit a price in a sealed tender document. That was one part of the process. The applicants we invited to tender formally would then submit their prices for running the terminal. If any of those prices were better than the benchmarked price set by the DAA, then that company would win the tender process. However, it did not get to the stage of benchmarking because none of the applicants was found to be qualified.

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