The following is the full text of a statement issued by the McEvaddy brothers yesterday:
September 20th, 1999
Statement From The McEvaddy Brothers
Arising from the much publicised visit to the holiday home of Ulick McEvaddy in France of certain politicians, the McEvaddy brothers, in the interests of clarity, make the following statement.
There is no proposal for any of the projects in which the McEvaddys are involved before the Irish Government for any decision or indeed any Government Department for consideration at this time. The factual situation on the three projects which have attracted so much media comment is as follows:
Huntstown Air Park
We made a proposal to develop a second air passenger terminal at Dublin Airport in order to relieve the growing congestion there. This was made to the Government but was rejected in May 1997 by Mr Alan Dukes, the then Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications. We believe that this is a very worthwhile project and we have now taken our case, by way of complaint on the basis of the Aer Rianta monopoly at Dublin Airport, to the European Commission. We have no reason for any further contact with Government on this matter.
Hush-kitting regulations for jet engines
The decision by the EU to change the regulations of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) for the first time in over 50 years had caused us to bring this matter to the European Court. This matter will be adjudicated upon there and requires no Government action, nor is any Government action possible.
Rail link to airport
Our meeting with Government officials and Ministers was a fact-finding mission to ascertain how a rail link to Dublin Airport would work. We are not making a proposal nor do we intend to make a proposal for any consideration by the Government.
As a company we feel that it makes good sense - as well as being a democratic right - to make the Government aware at the earliest possible time of any concept we might have and which might be useful to the Government's own thoughts and plans.
Mr Ulick McEvaddy said: "I place special value on lifelong friends, irrespective of who they are or what their politics are, and have no hesitation in offering them hospitality of any kind."