Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said the second terminal at Dublin Airport will be provided "in plenty of time".
Pressed repeatedly by the Opposition to give a timescale, Mr Ahern said that Pier D would be required 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."
Mr Ahern added if the growth of passenger traffic continued at the current rate, they would ultimately need to expand possibly to cater for up to 60 million passengers.
"We will have the second one in plenty of time."
He said the Government had made it clear at Christmas that private equity should be allowed in the case of Aer Lingus. The percentage of that would be decided, he added.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny accused the Taoiseach of being "glib" in only saying that there would be a second terminal. He asked if Mr Ahern was going to accommodate the wishes of the PDs, and the Tánaiste in particular, in respect of competition and capacity.
The public, Irish business and Irish people had a right to know, he added.
Mr Kenny accused the Government of being unable to make decisions and accept responsibility for them, adding that on the issue of the second terminal, the Government appeared to be in a state of total paralysis.
"Minister Mary O'Rourke, when she was on that side of the House, recognised the need for more capacity as far back as 1999. The programme for government promised a second terminal. Minister Brennan promised a decision would be taken in early 2003. We have listened ad nauseam to Minister Martin Cullen saying a decision would be taken shortly.
"No decision has been taken about capital access for Aer Lingus and this goes on day after day.
"We have your own comment that you have a very good working relationship with the Tánaiste. That may well be so.
"We have a situation where the Minister for Transport and the Tánaiste obviously disagree in public about issues which come before the Cabinet."
Mr Kenny added that up to 18 million passengers would "shuffle" their way through the airport this year. "We are now told the solution is going to be terminal three. So can we have a situation that for once you can stand up and say the Cabinet is making a decision, stand by it and get on with it?"
Labour leader Pat Rabbitte said the Taoiseach was saying that the present terminal had a capacity for 20 million people, and there was plenty of space since only 17 million people were using it.
Urging the Taoiseach to say what the position was, he added: "Are you supporting the Ryanair wing of the Government, or are you going to build this terminal out of State funds?"
Mr Rabbitte said: "Are you seriously telling this House that where the first terminal manifestly does not work, and the second terminal cannot be agreed, that you are going to build a third terminal? You will end up building a terminal for every PD TD."
Mr Ahern said he had looked at the figures for the queues during 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. Security issues were involved, he added.
By mid-summer, there would be 120 additional staff on the existing booths and five additional booths to deal with the throughput, the Taoiseach said.
