Ireland: Michael O'Leary slams ‘€70m cost hike’ in Dublin runway plan

Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary has strongly criticised the E70m cost increase for the second parallel runway at Dublin Airport. O’Leary, speaking in Trinity College Dublin, where he was endorsing Sean Barrett’s re-election to the Upper House, said the Dublin Airport Authority should pay the excess. A 2014 report put the cost of developing the second parallel runway at €250m but last week’s announcement about the planned development put the price tag at E320m. O’Leary described the cost increase as “nonsense” and without justification. “A second runway is a good idea and hopefully we will need it,” he said. “It was approved by the aviation commission in 2014 at a cost of €243m. So we are somewhat taken aback that it has spiralled by 30% to E320m within 12 months without a sod being turned We have a meeting with the Dublin Airport Authority to find out what the other E70m is for. If the regulated cost of the project is E250m then we will fully support it. We are not paying for another round of DAA badly designed gold-plated, badly located facilities.”<br/>