Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

I have the request for tenders in my hand that the Minister issued in April 2008. It is a very unusual document as it states that the Minister reserves the right to terminate the assignment after the end of the first phase. This means that there would only be a pre-tendering phase, which is something I have not seen in similar documents. Does this not confirm the point that we went through a kind of charade? Why was this necessary when we knew that the Commission for Aviation Regulation was making its own determination of airport charges?

Terminal 2 is a wonderful investment. It is a magnificent building and a wonderful piece of infrastructure for the nation. I commend those who designed and organised it. I do not believe that people should be flying out of a greenfield site without normal comforts when they are about to go through very stressful travel. I commend those people, but it is important that the terminal is efficiently run. Aer Rianta International was a proud standard bearer for our country and competed successfully for many airport management contracts in places such as Birmingham and other places in the US and Europe, so why did the Minister not ask the DAA to put its best case forward, given that it has competed freely and successfully before?

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