Second terminal points airport in the right direction

PAUL MILLS’S column headlined ‘Inefficiencies see money poured down drain’ (November 12) contained a number of inaccuracies relating to the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) and the construction of Terminal Two (T2) at Dublin airport.

The first is his suggestion that the DAA “decided” to build T2, almost as if on a whim. The facts are that the Government decided in May 2005 that the DAA should build both a new passenger terminal and the boarding gate facility, Pier D, which was opened in October 2007.

The Government’s decision was in response to the double-digit annual growth experienced since the late 1990s and the severe congestion this caused due to inadequate terminal and airfield facilities at Dublin airport. The pressure to take this decision came from a broad range of stakeholders, not least passengers who suffered most as a result of the congestion.