It must feel like a Spartan holiday season for some ex-Aer Rianta directors. No amount of aftershave or good wine could match the gifts handed to five of them by Aer Rianta chairman Noel Hanlon a few months ago, writes Emmet Oliver

Mr Hanlon - in an act of supreme folly or generosity depending on your view - presented five Cartier watches valued at €9,000 each to selected retiring and former Aer Rianta board members in one of his final acts in office.

Predictably, the public and political reaction was one of utter indignation. Senior executives used to oiling the wheels of commerce with the occasional well-placed gift expressed shock at the munificence displayed by Mr Hanlon.

The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, sounded indignant, and maybe a little resentful, in the Dáil.

"If I, as I do in my position, receive a gift to the value of more than €600, I must give it up. All of us in this House work hard and none of us could receive such a gift. Quite frankly, I do not believe it is appropriate," he said.

For many observers, the decision to reward former and retiring directors in such a lavish manner simply illustrated the unassailable power built up over the years by Mr Hanlon at Dublin Airport. However, the watches were later returned by many of the directors.

The airlines, and particularly Michael O'Leary at Ryanair, have for many years blamed Mr Hanlon for many of the structural problems at the airport.

Not that Mr Hanlon saw it this way. In fact, he pinned the blame for problems on the then Minister for Transport, Mr Séamus Brennan. He was incensed in particular when the Minister mothballed the Aer Rianta plan to build a new Pier D facility at Dublin Airport.

Mr Hanlon described Dublin Airport on several occasions in less-than-flattering terms. "We are a Third World airport, that is the level we are at," he told The Irish Times in late September.

While the two men were never close, the infamous cigars and brandy affair poisoned their relationship. Mr Brennan was accused in a 2002 press report of having built up a €5,000 bill for cigars and brandy with Aer Rianta but was later exonerated.

Mr Hanlon claimed he had been wrongly accused of leaking this story to a Sunday newspaper and, consequently, he said the Minister was out to get him. Mr Hanlon has long argued that congestion at the airport could have been relieved if only he had been let get on with the job by Mr Brennan.

Mr Brennan, for his part, stayed clear of personal animosities and managed, in the teeth of bitter union opposition, to get his State Airports Bill through the Oireachtas. While there is a one-year delay in the Act and its provisions still need the approval of the Ministers for Finance and Transport, Aer Rianta is no more.

Since October the more low-profile figure of Gary McCann has entered the fray as chairman of the Dublin Airport Authority, which effectively replaces Aer Rianta.

Having been appointed by Mr Brennan, Mr McGann is expected to push through the Brennan reforms with some vigour. But he has already come up against strong union opposition, particularly to the idea of job reductions at any of the three airports.

Mr McGann has adopted a low-key style but has publicly acknowledged that cutting congestion at Dublin Airport will be his central priority. But what can Mr McGann do?

Not a lot, suggest most sources. With passenger numbers rising from 15.9 million to 17.1 million in 2004, congestion at security and check-in desks is hardly going to reduce.

"Passenger numbers have increased 8-9 per cent in recent years, but the passengers are still going through what is essentially the same size of facility," commented one executive recently.

"There is no magic wand solution," said another aviation source.

The growth at the airport should not be underestimated. Some 34 new routes and services came on stream in 2004, the airport now serves 102 destinations and 46 carriers are on the books of the Dublin Airport authority.

In one sense, these figures represent a success story, but a story with a major practical downside - capacity problems.

Despite endless bellicose advertisements from Ryanair, the Government still has not moved on getting new capacity installed at the airport. No decision has been made on either a new terminal or a new Pier D facility.

Mr McGann will no doubt interact with Government on these issues in the next few months, but there is a limit to what he can do personally. Even if the Government sanctions a new terminal, it would probably take about four years to build. Some sources estimated even Pier D would take about two-and-a-half years to build.

A new terminal could be a starting point but, so far, the Taoiseach has shown no great alacrity on this issue, nor has his embattled Minister for Transport, Mr Cullen.

Maybe they are right to be cautious. SIPTU, the largest union at the three airports, fought the break-up plan tooth and nail, but their opposition to a second terminal could be even more vociferous.

However, the union has recently shown a propensity for some fresh thinking.

Under Dermot O'Loughlin, the head of SIPTU's civil aviation branch at the airport, the union has proposed investing in any new terminal development, alongside a private consortium.

Also, Shannon Airport has started flexing its muscles with a new deal with Ryanair. The deal is the kind of arrangement Mr Brennan always wanted.

Ryanair will set up nine new routes from Shannon to the UK and continental Europe from May, making Shannon one of its European hubs.