Speech by the Taoiseach, Mr. Bertie Ahern, T.D., at the Official Opening of Pier D, at Dublin Airport, on Monday, 12 November, 2007 at 9.00a.m.
Ladies and Gentlemen
I am delighted to have been asked to perform the official opening of Pier D.
Dublin Airport is the fastest growing major airport in Europe and one of the busiest. This year, some 23 million people will pass through it, compared to 21 million last year and nine million in 1996. Passenger numbers are set to rise to about 30 million by the middle of the next decade.
This is good news. It is a measure of Ireland's prominence on the world's business map. It highlights our popularity as a tourist destination. It is evidence of our attractiveness as a land of opportunity for people from other countries. And it underscores our hard earned prosperity, with Irish people holidaying abroad in unprecedented numbers.
The huge increase in passenger numbers has, of course, put a great deal of pressure on the facilities at the airport - especially during the very busy summer months. The airport has been bursting at the seams and passengers have been experiencing a lot of discomfort and inconvenience.
Recognising this, Dublin Airport Authority is investing €2 billion over the next decade to radically improve the passenger experience here. Significant progress has already been made with the Transforming Dublin Airport programme. For example, Area 14, the new lower ground floor check in facility, was completed late last year and is up and running. But Pier D is the most striking expression to date of this makeover.
This is an ultra modern and quite stunning facility, well up to international standards. The Skybridge is an eyecatching feature in itself - both in its design and in the views it offers of the Old Central Terminal Building. The magnificent views here from Pier D speak for themselves. I am also very impressed by the specially designed - and unmissable! - glass murals of 12 famous Irish writers. This is a great way to showcase some of our wonderful literary heritage.
Pier D offers a real feast for the eyes. Most important of all, though, it provides a lot of space and high levels of comfort and convenience for passengers. The fact that there are separate floors for arrivals and departures is a particularly useful feature. All in all, this is a fantastic addition to Dublin Airport. And it was all completed on time, on budget and, I understand, at about 20% below the cost of similar facilities in the UK. So well done to all concerned.
This new €120 million boarding gate facility will, when fully operational, provide 12 new gates and be able to handle up to 10 million passengers a year. It represents a major improvement in the quality of boarding gate facilities at Dublin Airport.
I would like to compliment construction firm Laing O'Rourke on their work. Laing O'Rourke has an excellent track record for innovative projects like Pier D and, of course, is very active in Ireland, not least on the upgrading of the Dublin - Naas dual carriageway.
I would also like to commend the architects, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, for bringing to the job their characteristic flair. It says a lot about the pace of globalisation that the firm which carried out this project is currently working on the world's tallest building, the Burj Dubai.
The opening of Pier D is a very welcome indicator of Dublin Airport Authority's determination to put the needs of the traveller first. There is a way to go before it can realise its vision of a new passenger terminal - T2 - that will be bright, airy, calm and relaxing; a dramatically improved Terminal One; a new parallel runway; new aircraft parking stands and taxiways; a new Ground Transportation Centre; and much more besides. But the work is in hand.
Construction work on T2 began last month and it is scheduled to open in early 2010. There will be some disruption and inconvenience on the way. However, things will get better and this new facility is a signal of good things to come. Pier D is about space, comfort, convenience and style. And that is what Dublin Airport will be about once the transformation programme is completed.
This airport and the people who run it and the people who work in it are of key importance to the future of our economy. The recent development of new services to destinations like the United Arab Emirates shows the potential of air links to connect us to dynamic new markets and, hopefully, encourage tourism from the growing markets of the Middle East, Asia, Australasia and South Africa. It is vital that we do everything possible to ensure that Dublin Airport is fit for purpose. I am delighted to see the scale of development that is happening here at the airport and I wish the Dublin Airport Authority every success in driving forward their capital development programme. You are well on the way to creating something of which we can all be proud.
In closing, I would like, once again, to congratulate everyone involved in the construction of this magnificent new facility. I now declare Pier D officially open.
Thank you
ENDS.