Second terminal will see charges rise - management

Airport charges must rise if the second terminal is to be built at Dublin Airport, it was claimed today.

Management insisted they were ready, willing and able to run a new development but warned passengers would be asked to foot the bill.

Dublin Airport Authority bosses claimed that basic economic sense dictated that the cost of a new building could only be met by raising the current five euro charge.

Declan Collier, DAA chief executive said the facilities at the airport as they stood were having a detrimental effect on the image of Ireland.

“The Dublin Airport Authority is ready, willing and able to build a terminal and additional operating capacity at the airport,” he said.

“We are capable of implementing all decisions including the building and operating of a new terminal.”

Some of the country’s leading businessmen have claimed that a second terminal would provide the necessary competition to drive down costs for the 50,000 passengers travelling through the airport every day.

But Garry McGann, DAA chairman warned it was simple economics to increase costs to pay for any major developments.

“It’s simple economics. It’s not the Dublin Airport Authority or the management putting preconditions down, it’s basic economics,” he said and he insisted the DAA was best placed to build, and operate a second terminal at the airport.

“We have the capacity, we have the assets and we have the responsibility to do so,” he said.

Management however refuse to be drawn on how much a new terminal would cost or how far airport charges would rise to meet those costs.

Potential developers, including businessman Ulick McEvaddy and Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary have claimed costs could run to €450m.