TRANSPORT MINISTER DARRAGH O’Brien said he plans to bring a memo to Cabinet in January on proposed legislation to lift the Dublin Airport passenger cap. 

The current Dublin Airport passenger cap is set at 32 million passengers per year. 

It is a condition of the planning permission granted for the construction of Terminal 2 in 2007. 

In April, the High Court put a stay on the Dublin Airport passenger cap after a number of key issues relating to the case were referred to Europe, so currently the cap is not in operation. 

The passenger cap has caused controversy over the last year, with Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary slamming the government this summer for the slow pace of action.

He hit out at the government for not passing legislation to scrap the cap within the first six months of the government’s term. 

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has previously said it is “imperative” the passenger cap is lifted. 

In an interview with The Journal, the transport minister said the proposed legislation is “complex” but added:

“The cap itself needs to go but there are legal complexities within it, but we’re well advanced on the legislation. We’re not quite there yet. I want to have a memo to Cabinet in January, if I can, and I think we can do that, because it’s a critical piece of infrastructure.”

Separate to that, he said there is a planning application with Fingal County Council around facilities within the airport. The minister said he has been informed that will not be completed until Quarter 1 2027. 

Fingal Council

“I’d like to see that decision be made sooner. I really would like Fingal to to deal with that sooner than that,” he said. 

Once the legislation is introduced, it will have to make its way through the Houses of the Oireachtas, but the minister wants to get the law passed next year. 

Related Reads

Ryanair applies for judicial review of night-time flight cap at Dublin Airport

Airport passenger cap: Attorney general has given his advice, but there are 'no easy options'

Everything you need to know about Dublin Airport’s passenger cap - and why airlines despise it

He added that it will be interesting to see where the different political parties land on the issue, as he said it’s not sustainable into the future to have a cap. 

“If I can get the bill through Cabinet and get the draft heads drafted, there’s no reason why we couldn’t get the legislation passed next year in 2026 and actually I’m determined to do that,” he added. 

“But it has been more complicated than I would like, to be honest, but it’s critically important. The airport in Dublin accounts for 3% of GDP out of that campus alone, every single year. It employs just short of 25,000 people directly, but 125,000 indirect,” said the minister. 

The cap was based on the level of road traffic back in 2008, said the minister, who added that Fingal County Council “should have dealt with this in that 10 year period”.

“They didn’t. So, I’m left with the situation, but I’m determined to deal with it,” he concluded.