THERE'S bad news for travellers from Northern Ireland who fly out of Dublin Airport - car parking charges have been increased significantly.

The charges at Dublin have been increased, says the Airport, "in order to support a significant investment in refurbishing, automating and extending the Airport's extensive car park network."

The hourly charge for the short-term car parks adjacent to the airport terminal buildings have risen by 30 cent to EUR3. This is in line with the Dublin Airport Authority's (DAA) policy of linking its short-term car parking rates with those pertaining in Dublin city centre car parks. The daily charge for using the short-term car parks remains unchanged at EUR30.

Meanwhile the daily charge at Dublin Airport's various long-term car parks - used by most Northern Ireland travellers - has gone up by 50 cent to EUR8.50.

The Dublin Airport Authority says it plans to continue levying benchmarked commercial charges for its car parking services "in order to maximise the revenues available to the companyin a tightly regulated environment and to finance significant ongoing investment in its car parking service."

During 2006 close to EUR10m will be invested to further enhance customer service standards at Dublin Airport's car parks.

Investment at the short-term car parks will include a refurbishment programme to deliver brighter, cleaner multi-storey blocs with new enhanced safety features; the development of a new coach park and passenger set-down area; and the provision of a new travelator to deliver passengers from the car park atrium to the appropriate levels in the terminal building.

Investment in the long-term car parks will include the provision of an additional 3,000 spaces at Harristown bringing the overall number of long-term spaces available at peak travel periods to approximately 17,000.

Plans are also at an advanced stage to deliver significant technology-based customer-service initiatives during 2006. These will include online pre-booking and pre-payment options; credit and debit card payment facilities at exit barriers; and a licence plate recognition and new CCTV system to provide increased security for cars parked at the Airport.