Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

I wish to share my time with Senator Feighan. I compliment the previous speaker on her comments. She shares the sentiments of the Fine Gael motion. I respect that she must vote with her party, as does every Member in this House, but she spoke a lot of sense.

This motion is about the future of Dublin Airport, the future of air transport and the future of the country. It must be conceded that to some degree Dublin Airport is almost the victim of its own success. The Minister's statistics were quite startling, showing a projected growth from 17 million passengers last year to 30 million by 2018. That is a phenomenal number of passengers using Dublin Airport. It will be necessary to plan ahead in a detailed fashion for the ever-growing numbers. Unfortunately, the current facilities are not sufficient for today's 17 million passengers and the quicker the second terminal is developed, the better.

Senator White summed it up by saying that the business of Government is to get on with the job, to allow the work commence on building the terminal and to worry about the ideology afterwards. There appears to be a difference of ideological policy between the Government parties, which is fair enough because that is politics but it is disappointing that the difference of political approach and ideology appears to be holding up a decision in respect of who will build what and where. The Minister, Deputy Cullen, gave an indication that we are moving towards a decision regarding who will be building the second terminal. Media reports today state that one of the private developers who was willing to invest has indicated he has been told on good authority — if the House will excuse the pun — that the Dublin Airport Authority will be given the contract. It is not a question of who does the job but rather of how it is done, where the terminal will be sited and whether it will provide the competition required.

Competition is an absolute necessity in the air transport sector. It has worked very well in making air travel affordable to the masses and it is required in the delivery of passengers and the provision of airport facilities. I hope the Minister of State and his senior colleague will ensure the final structure is not a one-man band.

On the issue of security referred to in the Fine Gael motion, the situation in Dublin Airport recently is untenable. Urgent action is required. There are times when the solution seems to lie in hiring more staff but this seems to be out of ideological favour. The security system at Dublin Airport is now so blocked up that additional personnel and facilities are required quickly. We cannot allow the current situation to continue.