UPROAR
Say Airport Plans Will lose Billions UPROAR the Portmarnock group opposed to the building of another runway at the airport recently made a presentation of its economic case against the "unsustainable development" of Dublin Airport to the Commission for Aviation Regulation (CAR). During the meeting the regulator told UPROAR that the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) has demanded the preliminary cost benefit, analysis undertaken by consultants for the CAR should "be abandoned without delay." UPROAR say that the DAA has taken this stance even though the CAR has a statutory obligation to ensure economic efficiency when it sets maximum passenger charges. The group's own cost benefit analysis found that Dublin Airport's plans will actually mean a waste of 4.5 billion. In a statement UPROAR said, "The DAA's position is based on the presumption that the Government's Aviation Action Plan of 2005 gives it carte blanche to build whatever it likes. This flies in the face of our planning legislation and all government guidelines for the appraisal of public investments to ensure value for money." They claimed, "The DAA clearly does not want the full light of appraisal to be shined on its' unsustainable plans, that may be leading us to a privatisation of Dublin Airport." UPROAR said it would raise this issue and others at a Bord Pleanála oral hearing of the appeal against the construction of Terminal 2. |