2 Letters to Irish Times 10 Jan 07

Don't expand the Airport

Your editorial in support of a second Dublin airport (Irish Independent,
January 8) will find support among the hard pressed commuters who daily
must make their way to and from work along the largest car park in
Europe, namely the M50.

It is crazy to allow the DAA, with the collaboration of Fingal County
Council, to proceed with their plans to expand Dublin Airport, doubling
the number of passengers from the current 22m per year to over 40m in
the next 15 years.

At the recent oral hearing with An Bord Pleanala both the DAA and Fingal
County Council stated that the second parallel runway would not of
itself have any implications for extra traffic in the environs of the
airport! I am in no doubt that they will make the same claim for
Terminal 2 if it goes to an oral hearing.

A second airport located on a greenfield site about 40 miles from the
capital, as well as the expansion of our regional airports, should
provide the framework for a national aviation policy.

SEAMUS HORAN,
PORTMARNOCK,
CO DUBLIN

__________

Your editorial (Irish Independent, January 8) states that "according to
some projections, as soon as the second terminal is completed its
capacity will be strained to the limit." The DAA has stated clearly that
Dublin Airport's second passenger terminal will be delivered before the
end of 2009, subject to planning, and that the Airport will then have
the capacity, comfortably to manage up to 35m passengers per year. At
current passenger traffic forecasts that will provide sufficient
capacity for up to ten years after the opening of T2.

VINCENT WALL,
DUBLIN AIRPORT AUTHORITY