Work has just started on the 3.5m temporary structure being put in place to relieve congestion at the airport until the new Pier D is completed at the end of 2007.

It will have eight passenger boarding gates for short-haul flights and will have capacity to handle 1,200 people at any one time.

Dublin Airport, which handled 18.4m passengers in 2005, an 8% rise on the previous year, has been slated over its facilities. Most recently, the miserable experience endured by passengers at the airport was one of the issues highlighted by the Tourism Action Plan Implementation Group.

With passenger numbers expected to top 20m this year, the new facility is unlikely to add greatly to weary passengers' travel experience. It is described as "functional" by the DAA itself.

It is planned, however, that the new temporary forward lounge will have a short existence.

It will be removed when Pier D is completed in the last quarter of 2007, according to the planning permission the authority received for its construction.