Taoiseach hopes for new airport terminal by 2009

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has told the Dáil the Government intends to make a final decision on the building of a second terminal at Dublin Airport shortly.

Mr Ahern refused to be drawn on when the decision would be made, despite pressure from Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny. He said Cabinet would be discussing the issue this afternoon.

"Whether we make decision today or next week, we are going to make a decision shortly," Mr Ahern said. However, he did said he hoped any new terminal would be finished "by 2009".

Mr Ahern told Labour leader Pat Rabbitte he expected the second terminal to be under the control of the Dublin Airport Authority.

The Taoiseach said this morning it was clear was that a second terminal was needed, with passenger numbers soaring in recent years. Dublin Airport currently caters for 18 million passengers per year. Mr Ahern said a new terminal would mean up to 30 million passengers a year could be processed.

Mr Kenny said numbers were up by eight per cent in the first quarter of 2005. If that rate of growth continued, any new terminal would be "inadequate by 2010".

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny

Both Mr Kenny and Labour leader Pat Rabbitte accused the Government of "dithering" for months over the issue, claims Mr Ahern rejected.

"What the Government have been doing over last few months is trying to make decision, not just for now but for the long term," he said. The Government was looking to the future, to the next ten or 15 years, "because it's the right thing to do".

He said a final decision would depend on a number of elements, including road access and equity.

Differences between Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats over who would run a second terminal have held up a decision for months. The PDs want a private company to be responsible for its operation. Minister for Transport Martin Cullen has argued that similar arrangements in other countries have always been failures.

Mr Ahern insisted yesterday there was no rift between himself and Tánaiste Mary Harney. "All the Tanaiste and I want to see is an effective and efficient Dublin airport for the future and we're working to get a resolution of that," he said in Warsaw.

Mr Kenny said passengers currently have to go through "Guantanamo shuffle" to get through the security arrangements in Dublin Airport. This created a bad image for tourists and foreign investors.

Mr Rabbitte asked Mr Ahern if he planned to sell off Aer Lingus. He said if this happens, the airline's "critical" slots at Heathrow, which are the lifeblood of Irish trade, would be at risk. The Labour leader said he foresaw a takeover by Willie Walsh, the former Aer Lingus boss who is now chief executive of British Airways.

But Mr Ahern said an "equity injection" to support growth and provide financial security was vital to ensure the future of the airline. It would be "insane" not to protect the airline, he said.

Mr Rabbitte said he had no objection to allowing private equity capital investment in Aer Lingus, but was against selling it off.

Socialist TD Joe Higgins claimed that the sale of Aer Lingus would amount to "treachery" to the Irish people and a "stabbing in the back" of Aer Lingus workers. He claimed the billions of euro wasted on roads overruns would be enough to buy planes to fly the whole population of Ireland around the world several times "for free".

Mr Ahern dismissed this as "ráiméis" from the "extreme left".

Minister for Overseas Investment Conor Lenihan said Mr Higgins "should stick with the kebabs", a reference to his support of Gama's Turkish workers. Mr Lenihan later withdrew the remark after Mr Higgins said it "ill-behove" a man in his position.