The Taoiseach was asked what is the position on the terminal at Dublin Airport. Having listened to him I have no idea what is the answer. He seems to suggest that the present terminal has a capacity of 20 million passengers and since only 17 million passengers use it, there is plenty of space. If that is what he is saying, it is easily known that neither he nor the Tánaiste need to go through the airport. What is the answer to the question? Does the Taoiseach support the Ryanair wing of the Government or will the terminal be built with State funds? If the latter is the case, will the Government do a better job on it than on the many projects listed in last night's "Prime Time" programme, which showed that the waste and incompetence of the Government is like nothing ever seen in the western world. It compared the projects concerned with the experience elsewhere in OECD countries.

It was not possible to find a Minister, not even the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Parlon, or the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, who is never shy of going before a camera. Where were they last night? At least in the days when the Minister for Defence, Deputy O'Dea, was available he would have gone out. However, since he became the Rommel of Southill he does not have the time for that kind of thing.

What is the position on the terminal? Is the Taoiseach seriously telling the House that where the first terminal manifestly does not work and the second terminal cannot be agreed, the Government is to build a third terminal? The Government will end up building a terminal for every Progressive Democrats Deputy. What is the position? Has the Government decided who will operate the terminal, who will build it and who will own it? Is it true that a third terminal is in prospect? When will a decision be made? Does Michael O'Leary not at least have a fair point in saying that the Government has now been dithering for three years? While the issue has gone on for approximately six years, for three years the Government has been incapable of making a decision. The Taoiseach has now told the House that the airport has capacity for 20 million and as we have only reached 17 million, there is plenty of space for everyone who can queue into the night. The Taoiseach and the Tánaiste are happy that people should need to queue interminably to egress from the country.

Today I looked at the figures for the queues over the past week. For non-peak times it took 15 minutes to get through and for the peak times over the weekend it took 25 minutes. There are security issues. There will be 120 additional staff——

Does the Taoiseach really believe there is no problem at Dublin Airport?

Allow the Taoiseach to speak without interruption.

By mid-summer there will be 120 additional staff on the existing booths and five additional booths to deal with the throughput. We need pier D by 2007 and a second terminal by 2009. That is the position as stated by the Dublin Airport Authority and everybody else out there. When the Government has finalised the best and most efficient mechanism for doing this, we will announce all the details and will do so shortly. We are committed to doing that.

Deputy Rabbitte asked about a third terminal. As the Deputy knows all the people at Dublin Airport say that if the growth continues at the current rate, we will ultimately need and should think about possibly extending to cater for up to 60 million passengers in the longer term. That is not what we are thinking about for——

Will we have the second terminal before the third one?

We will have the second one in plenty of time.

There will be plenty of time for both.

Deputy Rabbitte also mentioned roads and the overspend. The report of the Committee of Public Accounts, which the Deputy normally quotes, identified the increased costs when reviewing all the projects last year and not just 30 projects that were cherry picked for the "Prime Time" programme. It stated that 40% was due to inflation, 16% due to failure to cost certain elements at the planning stage, 20% due to changes in scope for projects and 24% due to project-specific increases such as the Dublin Port Tunnel, the south-eastern motorway and the N11 through the Glen of the Downs.

On Deputy Rabbitte's last question, unfortunately the Minister for Defence, Deputy O'Dea does not have the ability of bi-location. He was in another studio in RTE last night appearing on the "Questions and Answers" programme and he could not appear on the "Prime Time" programme.

I call Deputy Rabbitte.

I am a man who can only do so much.

Allow Deputy Rabbitte to speak without interruption.

It is very difficult to draw any conclusion from what the Taoiseach has said. On the one hand there is no problem — the queues last 15 minutes. On the other hand the airport will soon have 60 million passengers so we need a third terminal before we get a second one. I have heard of leap-frogging a generation but never a terminal. We will have the third before we can agree on the second. We still have no clarity about the positions taken by the Taoiseach and his partners in Government. As I understand it, the Tánaiste is firmly behind Ryanair and Mr. O'Leary. The Taoiseach, on the other hand, is nodding and winking to the trade unions and his local organisation that he might do this and may well do that and that he could build a third terminal before a second.

The Deputy's minute is concluded.

There are impossible queues at peak time and there is the prospect of a summer of aggravation for people trying to get through Dublin Airport. It is a simple, straightforward infrastructural decision that the Government ought to have made years ago. When does the Taoiseach propose that we have a decision? Does he have any idea, especially if the Cabinet met on the matter this morning, what the obstacles are to arriving at and announcing a decision? The Taoiseach tried to dismiss 30 projects selected last night——

The Deputy's time is long since concluded.

——but that is the great part of the road building that has gone on here. Given the global figure of projects estimated to cost €6 billion and ending up costing €18 billion, there is no more defence for it than for the superloo in Longford town, each flush of which costs €8.

I ask the Deputy to give way to the Taoiseach.

I will not return to road works since I have only a minute to answer. The position is that the present terminal caters for 20 million passengers.

Who says? It does not.

The Deputy will have to leave the House if she does not desist.

The Taoiseach is entitled to exactly the same courtesy in answering a question that Deputy Rabbitte received, and Deputy Rabbitte is entitled to hear the answer in silence. I appeal to Members to allow the Taoiseach to speak without interruption.

The present terminal can deal with 20 million passengers, and we know that Dublin Airport is growing rapidly. It requires a second terminal by 2009 to be a modern, efficient, properly run and flexible terminal that can cater for its fast-growing needs.

The Tánaiste is losing out.

That is what we want to provide in Dublin Airport. Pier D is required by 2009.

What for?

It is to cater for 20 million passengers.

Deputy Allen is not a member of the Labour Party, and this is Deputy Rabbitte's question. In fairness to the Labour Party, there should be silence for the answer.

When we announce the decision, I hope that the House's support will be as full as its interest has been.