The following shows a fundamental policy shift between Transport Ministers Seamus Brennan and Martin Cullen and how the Dáil was misled.

Minister Cullen now has no intention of reviewing the runway proposal from an aviation policy or a shareholder's point of view, as his predecessor promised. (The government is the principal shareholder in the DAA.) If the proposed runway is built, our aviation infrastructure will be set in stone for a generation. No other airport, state or private, could compete and thrive with this scale of subsidised runway capacity at Dublin Airport.

Minister Cullen also tells the Dáil that he has been informed that the Dublin Airport Authority has conformed to the Department of Finance Guidelines which require a cost benefit analysis of the runway proposal. The Dáil has been misled, as no such cost benefit analysis has been carried out.

In effect, a single state airport is now allowed to dictate national aviation policy with no input by our elected parliament and no proper evaluation.

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Minister for Transport Seamus Brennan in the Dáil, 4 May 2004:

"The proposed new runway will of course be subject to planning permission being obtained from Fingal County Council. In due course I will also consider this runway proposal from the aviation policy and shareholder perspective."

Minister for Transport Martin Cullen in the Dáil, 2 June 2005:

"I have no proposal to commission any study of alternative options for the provision of airport capacity to serve the greater Dublin Area. Subject to planning permission, it is envisaged that the Dublin Airport Authority will provide such capacity through the expansion of existing facilities and infrastructure at Dublin Airport.

"I am informed by the Dublin Airport Authority that all capital projects are subjected to rigorous appraisal procedures and ultimately board approval, in compliance with the guidelines issued by the Department of Finance."