Madam, - Three years ago Michael O'Leary of Ryanair offered to build a new terminal at Dublin Airport for free. His offer also included a promise to hand it over, free of charge, to the Government after 10 years, provided it was not then given to the Dublin Airport Authority to operate.
This offer was not acceptable to the real bosses at Dublin Airport, the unions, or to the DAA, and so this extraordinary offer was rejected.
Today we read that the DAA is to go ahead with a second terminal, which was originally costed at €170-200 million but is now promised at €395 million. From previous experiences of this type of State body projections, the real cost will come in at well over €500million.
When it is finally built, if airline projections are achieved, the second terminal will not be sufficient to handle the numbers and we will be back in square one. Now is therefore the time to call in Mr O'Leary and either call his bluff or give him the go-ahead for a third terminal, which will bring real competition into an area crying out for real customer service.
All of which is very relevant to the Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus crisis. Our public transport service is of a third world standard with one exception - the inter-city and airport bus services, where real competition between Bus Éireann and the private operators provides top-class service at attractive, affordable fares.
It is staring us in the face that the introduction of private operators into the Dublin bus arena is the way forward.
Let us hope that the Progressive Democrats hold firm on this one and continue to refuse consent to Martin Cullen to buy new buses for the State operators and prevent the consolidation of the diabolical service which the Dublin travelling public have to put up with at present. - Yours, etc,
DES GILROY, Sutton, Dublin 13.
