The Minister for Transport has vehemently denounced the concept of having competing terminals at Dublin airport which has been championed for months by the Progressive Democrats as the model for the airport's future. Mark Brennock and Liam Reid report
In strong remarks in the Dáil that took his coalition partners completely by surprise, Mr Cullen yesterday dismissed the idea as having been an "abject failure" when tried elsewhere.
The Tánaiste declined to respond last night. However, PD sources said that Mr Cullen's remarks "indicate the mindset within the department. It is the same mindset that resisted the deregulation of airlines in the 1980s." The remarks came as the stand-off continues between the two coalition parties over the future of Dublin airport.
Mr Cullen indicated that he believed the campaign to have an independently run second terminal - which has been led by Michael O'Leary of Ryanair and the businessman Ulick McEvaddy - would benefit particular individuals who wanted it rather than the State.
"People must consider the wider picture. This is about Ireland, not individuals. I am not in this business to look after any particular individual but to make a decision on behalf of this country."
He dismissed the quality of the "expressions of interest" in running an independent terminal which his predecessor Seamus Brennan sought in 2002. He said the panel which examined them found the expressions of interest identified no successful examples of competing terminals having worked elsewhere. "Where it has been tried it was an abject failure, ultimately resulting in the state buying back the terminal at an exorbitant cost."
The Tánaiste Ms Harney has for a long time insisted that terminals at Dublin airport compete with each other. Last Monday she acknowledged that the Dublin Airport Authority could run the second terminal as well as the current one, so long as they won a tendering competition to do so.
Last night she agreed there was a "difference" between the Government parties but she declined to respond to Mr Cullen's remarks. "I don't think it would be helpful in my efforts to find a solution for me to make any public comments in relation to what the Minister said in the Dáil." Mr Cullens's remarks suggested that he believed that the terminal being run by anyone other than the DAA would be the wrong decision. However his spokesman said later that he still believed there should be a tendering competition before the operator of a second terminal was decided.
Government sources indicated last night that despite differences between both sides they were "tantalisingly close" to agreement.