Court action threat over air terminal

John Breslin

Ulick McEvaddy has pledged to take court action here and in Europe, if the Government decides to award the contract to the authority.

Department of Transport sources said no formal decision has yet been taken, RTÉ reported last night.

Mr McEvaddy said he had learned authoritatively within the past 24 hours that the State airport authority would win the project.

The businessman is prepared to consider a joint venture with Ryanair to break what he describes as the State aviation monopoly.

Mr McEvaddy has accused the Government of presiding over a monopoly at Dublin Airport in contravention of EU law. He claims he can build a new terminal at the airport within three years and cater for up to E30 million passengers, E15 million would be the target in the first phase.

Business groups, including ISME, have called on the Government to ensure the new terminal is run by an independent operator and not by the authority, which replaced Aer Rianta as Dublin airport’s owner.

They had also pressed the Government to make an early decision.