Discussing future expansion plans at Dublin Airport, Friends First Chief Economist Jim Power asked if the proposed second terminal should be built in North Dublin at all. He believed that that part of the Dublin City and County was already seriously congested and building another airport terminal there would create a lot more chaos and more difficulties for the travelling public on the M50 and around Dublin Airport itself.

Mr Power would prefer Dublin Airport to be shut down and a new airport built on a green-field site located somewhere like Mullingar, in the middle of Ireland. He thought it would be possible to build a major state-of-the-art airport, serviced by a high-speed train link, and a good road network.

Minster Martin was of the opinion that our planning was often done with a "recession mindset" which failed to take due account of the demographic and economic changes that were really taking place. He was concerned that same mindset would continue to underestimate our future needs. Michéal Martin said that the issue of a second airport had been brought up at Cabinet more than once, and that the issues raised by Jim Power deserved consideration. He agreed that we may need a second airport on the southern side of Dublin.

This contrasts sharply with the position taken by Transport Minister Martin Cullen who told the Dáil in June 2005 that he had no intention of studying alternative options for the provision of airport capacity to serve the Greater Dublin Area. His intention was that, subject to planning permission, the necessary infrastructure would be provided at Dublin Airport.

The Portmarnock Community Association (PCA) has been calling for such a consideration of alternatives to the reckless, uneconomic and unsustainable expansion of Dublin Airport for some time. (It has not proposed closing Dublin Airport). Its airport subcommittee, UPROAR, which is opposed to the provision of a new parallel runway at Dublin Airport, has demanded that a proper independent evaluation of alternatives that would include a second airport serving the Greater Dublin Area be undertaken, as is in fact required by the Department of Finance. The PCA has appealed the decision by Fingal County Council to grant planning permission for the runway, and an oral hearing on that appeal will start at An Bord Pleanála on 26th September. See: www.norunway.com/bp/bp.htm.

Minister Martin now appears to be in conflict with Minister Cullen on the issue of alternatives to Dublin Airport expansion.

Is this a sign of a change in position in the light of the strong opposition to this runway and its devastation of communities such as St Margaret's, Malahide and Swords, as well as Portmarnock? It has become clear that this will be a big general election issue next year. Two of the three North Dublin Fianna Fáil candidates, Darragh O'Brien and Michael Kennedy have come out strongly against UPROAR while Jim Glennon T.D., who was previously in favour of considering alternatives to the unsustainable development of Dublin Airport, has not made his current position clear.

The potential alternative coalition parties, Fine Gael, Labour and the Green Party, all agree that alternatives need to be properly evaluated and have said so publicly.

TRANSCRIPT.

The Business, RTE Radio 1, Sunday 3 September.

Presenter: John Murray

Guests:

Michéal Martin, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

Jim Power: Chief Economist, Friends First.

Discussing the proposed new terminal that will have to be paid for out of increase passenger charges:

………………………………

John Murray: And I see already Michael O'Leary is saying that Dublin Airport Authority should pay for the new terminal with the money they are getting from selling the Great Southern Hotels Group. Jim Power?

Jim Power: Yeah, Michael O'Leary is obviously quite annoyed at the prospect of having to pay higher passenger charges to fund the terminal. I mean, I would agree with the point that was just made there, it's not an awful lot of money and I think if a new terminal does actually create a better situation in Dublin Airport, well then it's a price worth paying. But I suppose I would ask the fundamental question: should we be building a second terminal in North Dublin? I believe that that part of the County and the City of Dublin is already seriously congested and just putting another terminal in there is going to create a lot more chaos .

John Murray: Yeah, and it's going to be plonked in there between a big roundabout and the existing terminal.

Jim Power: Yeah. I personally prefer if they shut down Dublin Airport and built [on] a green-field site some place like Mullingar. The sort of Stansted model where you could have…

John Murray: What, to facilitate Michael O'Leary? …save on taxi fares?

Jim Power: It's the middle of Ireland, nothing to do with Michael O'Leary. It's a small country. I think it would be possible to build a major state-of-the-art airport, serviced buy high-speed train, decent road network. Bringing it all up into North Dublin is going to create a lot more chaos. And I think for the travelling public on the M50 and in Dublin Airport over the next ten years there's a lot of horror in prospect.

Michéal Martin: I think historically…, we probably collectively over the last 20 years…if you went back 10 years ago and sort of said that Dublin Airport would be this big, and that the growth in the last number of years would have happened, nobody would have believed you. So in many ways the airport has evolved, has grown and expanded in North Dublin and the growth is spectacular. It's extraordinarily busy. Something has to happen fairly quickly in terms of dealing with those capacity issues. In terms of the flow of passengers through, and so forth. So the extension is quite clearly needed. Jim's point about a more.... you know, where does the future hold over the next decade. And I think issues that Jim has raised do deserve consideration, as you look forward. I mean, you may need a second airport, in terms of the southern side or dealing with the rest of Leinster and so on.

Jim Power , Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Murray: Baldonnel maybe?

Michéal Martin …..as population grows, and so forth., I think and these are issues…

John Murray: Is that something, by the way, which has come up at Cabinet?

Michéal Martin: It has so, been floated from time to time. And I think these are the kind of issues … because, we have historically, and I remember serving on a local authority where the mindset was almost constantly one of recession and the planning was of a recession mindset, and people just simply did not envisage the type of growth we have had, the inward migration, the growth of population, the growth of the economy and so on. And I just would be worried at times that we continually have that mindset which understates or underestimates the patterns of demographic growth over the next number years and what's going to happen. So I think, these are live issues that do deserve consideration.

See: http://www.rte.ie/radio1/thebusiness