The Dublin Airport Authority has announced the location of the new second terminal for the airport.
It will be built on the approach to the main terminal building and will encompass the area currently occupied by Corballis House and a number of car hire firms.
The DAA says the new 50,000 square metre terminal is at the core of a €1.2 billion, ten-year Framework Development Programme to increase Dublin Airport's capacity from current levels of over 18 million passengers per year, to over 30 million.
The new terminal, due to begin operating in late 2009, will have a capacity for up to 15 million passengers per year and will cost between €170m and €200m depending on the design. The DAA says the terminal's design will accommodate long-haul routes and facilitate the onward transfer of passengers and luggage.
The authority also plans to build Pier D, for which it already has planning permission. This new two-storey structure on the northern edge of the airfield will start operating by late 2007.
The DAA says it will soon award the contract to build Pier D and start a tender process for the detailed design of the second terminal. The Government decided earlier this year that Dublin's second terminal would be built and owned by the DAA, with the selection of an operator to be decided by an open competition.
Welcoming the announcement, Transport Minister Martin Cullen said he would shortly bring proposals to Cabinet on the verification process for Terminal Two and that new integrated transport links on road, rail and bus for Dublin Airport would be included as part of a Government 10-year transport plan.
* Ryanair has criticised today's announcement on the second terminal from the DAA. The airline said it had not been consulted on the facility, nor its design, its location or its cost.
Ryanair said it is seeking an immediate meeting with the DAA to obtain details and a breakdown of costs of these plans. It said that only when this information is received will it decide whether to support or oppose them.
'€1.2 billion is an excessive amount to expect the Irish taxpayer to fund,' said Michael O'Leary, Ryanair's CEO. He said the Department of Transport's current timetable of 2009 means 'yet another four years that passengers have to endure the present deplorable conditions at Dublin airport'.
'Had the Government run with a competing second terminal, which was promised in the Government's own Programme for Government in 2002, and had the support of the tourism industry, it would have been completed by 2006 and at no cost to the Exchequer,' he added.
