Joe O'Toole (Independent)

I thank Senator Daly for sharing time with me. One of the problems with this debate is that everybody has their own ideological position to promote. I am well acquainted with Dublin Airport as I live beside it and many of my neighbours work there. I have visited many airports worldwide but have encountered only one in the past two years, Gerona Airport, in which free parking was provided. I returned to this airport, of which Mr. Michael O'Leary has often spoke, twice in the past three months and discovered that once it began attracting more business, those parking their vehicles were subject to a charge.

Parking in Dublin is expensive. It is amazing to hear people complaining about parking costs in the airport but passing no comment on the similar prices in locations across the road. It is a question of Dublin prices. If the Dublin Airport Authority were to provide free parking, there would be Members who claimed this was typical of the public service and its inability to make a shilling. The authority is charging €20 per day for parking because that is what the public is prepared to pay. This is what market forces and privatisation are about.

Senator Feighan observed that the quick-park facility costs €5 per day for long-term passengers while the short-term car park in the airport costs €20 per day. However, the long-term car park in the airport costs €5 or €6 per day. It is all about the market and passengers can choose the option they prefer. In the development plan for what we call the "Swords metro", my local authority, Fingal County Council, has factored in a large park and ride facility at Swords which will allow people to travel on the metro to the new airport terminal, if it is properly designed, having paid a quarter of the price to park their vehicles. This is the way forward.

With regard to security, Senator Daly is correct that it is very frustrating that passengers with connecting flights are obliged to undergo security checks more than once. However, the same situation pertains in Los Angeles, Heathrow, Stansted, JFK and so on. This is now international practice. If one travels to Stansted Airport with the airline owned by "Mr. Efficiency", Michael O'Leary, one must disembark the aircraft, collect one's luggage, walk half a mile to the end of the terminal, go through the check-in process and walk back again in order to take one's connecting flight. This is how Mr. O'Leary, the god of the private sector, manages the process in his operation. It is not his fault that it must be so but rather it is the security requirement. This is the reality. As Senator Feighan observed, the private bus operator which was to solve all our problems in Dublin Airport will not allow buses to depart until there are enough passengers to render such journeys economically viable.

We must recognise that this economic reality will also apply in the case of the new terminal. Services will not be cheaper. However, the Fine Gael motion is correct in its contention that the Government should have made progress on the new terminal. It is inexcusable that this has not been done.