Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 1261: To ask the Minister for Transport if, in respect of the question of a second Dublin airport since 1995 his Department has been consulted or has considered the use of Casement Aerodrome Baldonnell as a second commercial airport for Dublin; and the conclusion reached for same. [2454/07]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I should say at the outset that responsibility for the scope and scale of operations at Baldonnell are matters for the Minister for Defence and his Department in the first instance.

The use of Baldonnell as a second commercial airport has been raised on a number of occasions in fact as far back as January 1996 the then Minister for Transport Mr. Michael Lowry T.D., having consulted his cabinet colleagues, reached the conclusion that the project would not be in the interest of the aviation sector and the economy generally.

The issue of a second airport for the Dublin region was further addressed in the Warburg Dillon Read Report of 1999 on Aer Rianta. Among other things, that report concluded that Dublin does not need a second airport given Dublin Airport's capacity to expand for the foreseeable future. I am satisfied that the analysis remains a valid assessment of the Airport's potential. Because of the prudent policy of acquiring land banks in the environs of the airport to cater for future growth, the Dublin Airport Authority is now in the happy position of being able to construct the proposed second runway and the second terminal on land it already owns.