The Dublin Airport Authority has said that unless it gets permission to proceed with the construction of a runway at Dublin Airport, constraints on capacity would begin to kick in from 2009.
In an opening submission to An Bord Pleanála's oral hearing into the proposed runway, consultant Richard Hamilton, who is acting for the DAA, said that if the runway were to be built Dublin Airport would be dealing with 38 million passengers per annum by 2025.
Mr Hamilton told the hearing that plans for the new runway have been part of airport strategy for 40 years and had been in the Dublin and Fingal county development plans since 1972.
The hearing resumed at the Gresham Hotel earlier this afternoon.
It was adjourned this morning after Inspector Pauline Fitzpatrick said that a consultant engaged by the board had a conflict of interest and that a new consultant would be sought to advise on the issue of noise.
Ms Fitzpatrick apologised to all those attending for inconvenience caused by the adjournment.
She said she now proposed to deal with the noise element of the hearing at the end of the agenda rather than at the start of it.
Objectors dispute change to agenda
A number of representatives of objectors expressed concern about the alteration of the agenda.
Ian Lumley, National Heritage Office of An Taisce, said his organisation had lined up expert witnesses on climate change who may not now be available as a result of the change of sequence.
The DAA wants to build a 3,000m runway parallel to the one that already exists at a cost of €150 million.
Following a lengthy application process, Fingal County Council granted planning permission subject to certain conditions, including payment of €21m in infrastructure levies.
However, this decision was appealed to An Bord Pleanála by 15 parties. The Green Party leader, Trevor Sargent, is one of the appellants. Mr Sargent contends the projected increase in passengers does not correlate to high oil prices and the future affordability of air travel.
An Taisce has argued that the proposal does not have a strategic environmental assessment.
Local community group, Uproar, (United Portmarnock Residents Opposing Another Runway) maintains the quality of life of 10,000 people will be negatively affected.
