Irish Independent 8 Jan 07
All articles below appeared in same paper

Fine Gael leader pledges second airport for Dublin
by Fionnan Sheahan

FINE GAEL has pledged to build a second international airport in Dublin if it is voted into power. Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said sites at Baldonnel, Weston Aerodrome or a greenfield site in the Greater Dublin Area would be looked at as possible locations for the airport.

In an interview with the Irish Independent, Mr Kenny said a second airport was badly needed for the capital to prevent the existing airport sprawling in size like Heathrow.

The announcement comes as the Government prepares to publish its national development plan for the next seven years later this month.

Mr Kenny's support for a second airport will re-open a fresh debate about the future of Dublin Airport and the rapid growth of the population in Dublin and the commuter belt.

Fine Gael will also be hoping the rolling out of policies will distract from the leadership controversy which engulfed the party last week.

Mr Kenny's efforts to make a running start to the general election year have been stymied by calls for a new Fine Gael leader if he fails to become taoiseach.

Last night, he sought to divert attention back to policy issues.

We are talking about a pretty long timescale but it's something that I actually believe in, in the sense that what's going to happen on the northside of Dublin with the M50, the tunnel, the airport, IKEA and all of these things, will lead to a situation where you will just have complete congestion," he said.

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Kenny vows second airport

Enda hits election runway with pledge to congestion-weary travellers
Fionnan Sheahan
Political Correspondent

FINE GAEL has pledged to build a second international airport in Dublin if it is voted into power.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said sites at Baldonnel, Weston Aerodrome or a greenfield site in the Greater Dublin Area would be looked at as possible locations for the airport.

In an interview with the Irish Independent, Mr Kenny said a second airport was badly needed for the capital to prevent the existing airport sprawling in size like Heathrow.

The announcement comes as the Government prepares to publish its national development plan for the next seven years later this month. Mr Kenny's support for a second airport will reopen a fresh debate about the future of Dublin Airport and the rapid growth of the population in Dublin and the commuter belt.

Fine Gael will also be I hoping the rolling out of policies will distract from the leadership controversy which engulfed the party last week.

Mr Kenny's efforts to make a running start to the general election year have been stymied by calls for a new Fine Gael leader if he fails to become taoiseach.

Last night, he sought to divert attention back to policy issues. The leader of the main opposition party said he believed there should be a second airport in the Greater Dublin Area.

"We are talking about a pretty long timescale but it's something that I actually believe in, in the sense that what's going to happen on the northside of Dublin with the M50, the tunnel, the airport, IKEA and all of these things, will lead to a situation where you will just have complete congestion," he said.

"Given the growth of Dublin, given the projections of growth for the country, given your car population is going to grow and the projections for passenger throughput over the years, I just think that in terms of convenience, ease and quality the question of a second airport should considered seriously."

Feasibility
If elected, Mr Kenny vowed to immediately order a feasibility study on a second international in the capital. He insisted this would not take away from the development of Dublin, Cork, Shannon, Knock and other regional airports.

"There should be a second airport. I'm not site specific. Obviously places like Baldonnel, Weston or a Greenfield site……It could be in any surrounding counties. Obviously, it would have the potential for linking with the Luas or train stations."

The controversial plan will be welcomed by the public but will also generate significant opposition from Dublin Airport Authority, among others.

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EDITORIAL

Airport: the sequel

DOES our capital city need another international airport? Many thought the subject had disappeared from the agenda with the decision to build a new terminal at Dublin Airport, supposedly supplying sufficient accommodation for all the passengers wishing to use it.

This was always a dubious proposition. According to some projections, as soon as the second terminal is completed (2009, on an optimistic forecast) its capacity will be strained to the limit.

One option, seriously put forward, is a third terminal close to the first two. But airport space is not the only consideration.

Whatever surface transport improvements may take place in the next two or three years - or the next 10 or 20 years - access will remain difficult from locations south of the Liffey, and most of all from South Dublin Wicklow and Wexford

Enda Kenny's proposal for a new airport south-west of the city is therefore timely. The debate must be revived if we are to have any hope of deciding on the project, to say nothing of completing it, within any sort of reasonable timescale.

A debate also has to take place on the subject of location. The Fine Gael leader mentions what look like two obvious choices, Baldonnel and Weston. But both of these may be too small. In addition, very large populations live close to both, and would not welcome aircraft flying low over their homes.

Much as passengers might like to travel to Baldonnel on a LUAS tram, a better location might be found 30, 40 or 50 miles from the capital. That hardly amounts to "thinking big" in terms of distances. But in broader respects we have to "think big" about airports as about other infrastructure.

Conditions at Dublin Airport are scandalous; the reasons for them even more so. Failure of political will, paralysis in decision-making and fear of vested interests allowed the terminal to turn into a slum. Even now, the future control of the second terminal remains uncertain.

Politically, Fianna Fail are masters of the feel-good factor. Opposition parties run the risk of seeming to prefer misery and begrudgery. This time, it is Fianna Fail who have inflicted the misery and Fine Gael who, for once, have done some thing right.

But to convince people that he can improve their lives, Mr Kenny will have to put flesh on a sketchy framework.

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Plan for second city airport would be certain to crash-land

ENDA Kenny must have fond memories of the campaign to build Knock Airport in his home county some 20 years ago.

Were he, if elected taoiseach, to announce a second airport for Co Mayo, bonfires would blaze from every hilltop and he'd be carried shoulder high from Castlebar to Ballina.

However, somebody should tell him they do things differently in the capital. Proposing a second airport for Dublin is a bit like calling on turkeys to vote for Christmas.

He's also taking an alarming gamble with the political fortunes of his Dublin area candidates. More metros, a joined-up Luas, more gardai, more schools, better hospitals, and the abolition of M50 tolls all rank higher in the average Dubliner's list of priorities than yet another airport.

A couple of years back, while Dublin Airport was bursting at the seams, the idea might have been popular. Since then, solutions to Dublin Airport's horrid congestion problems have started to kick in.

Although it will be several years more before the badly needed second terminal and the new parallel runway are in place, that's much quicker than it will take to deliver a second airport on a greenfield site. By 2010, Dublin Airport will be able to handle twice as many passengers in much better comfort than it does now. That's not to say a second airport might not be' more convenient for some.

An obvious location for it is the Air Corps base at Baldonnell. It doesn't need rezoning and has a runway that, with a bit of extending and widening, could handle the Aer Linguses and Ryanairs of this world. There's enough existing land to build a terminal and car parking.

Baldonnell has other advantages. It is off the Naas Road; and is not too far from the Red Cow roundabout, giving ready access from the outer southern and western suburbs but also for people using the motorway to travel from further a field. It is not inconceivable the Luas could be extended there and it's a relatively short coach ride from Dublin Airport for transfers.

But Baldonnell also has disadvantages. Over the years, Dublin's suburbs have spread out and almost encircled it.

Local householders formed a vocal anti-airport pressure group some years ago when Ryanair founder Tony Ryan proposed converting it into a commercial airport. So vocal were they that local politicians, including Mary Harney, were forced to lend the their support. Those people haven't gone away. More opposition will come from the hundreds of thousands complaining of noise beneath the new flight paths into and out of a commercialised Baldonnell.

A further problem is deciding what to do with the Air Corps headquartered there. There will also be difficulties in meshing the take-off and approach routes of the two airports.

They are so close that these can intersect, posing flight safety issues that need to be dealt with by air traffic control measures. That may mean routing some flights over even more residents who never expected to have to endure aircraft noise. Another proposal was to locate an airport at the disused Air Corps airstrip at Gormanstown, in north Fingal at the Meath border.

Most Fingal curiosity is focused on an unnamed consortium that wants to build a second airport near Lusk. But the locality is less than five miles from the existing airport.

Fingal County Council is in the dark and that's no surprise considering the consortium has been reported locally as saying it would not apply to the council for planning permission but would lodge its application directly with An Bord Pleanala which is, under new legislation, the fast-track planning authority for major infrastructural projects.

This legislation was introduced to overcome the sort of objectors who delayed completion of the M50 and the construction of the M3 near Tara and was never intended to facilitate commercial developments.

However, should they secure recognition from the next government (Fine Gael?) that their project will become Dublin's official second airport, the new legislation may very well apply.

Interestingly, the consortium has also been reported as saying it is waiting for the election before unveiling its plans. Many locals are unhappy. Will the airlines support any new airport or will it remain an expensive white elephant?

Ryanair appears a likely candidate; but asked the question from the floor at an October aviation conference in Dublin, Michael O'Leary gave the idea the thumbs down. (Some years earlier, O'Leary had rebelled against his former boss's plan to shift Ryanair to Baldonnell).

Other airlines at the same conference also suggested they, too, were unlikely to move.

Dublin Airport, despite its shortcomings, still remains their preferred choice.

GERRY BYRNE