LAST UPDATE | 10 Feb

THE DEPARTMENT OF Transport has confirmed that Cabinet has agreed for priority drafting of a bill to address the passenger cap at Dublin Airport.

The DAA said it strongly welcomes the “decisive action” from government, while the Green Party has said that moves to abolish the passenger cap expose a “fundamental dishonesty” in the Government’s approach to climate targets.

Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien said he intends to introduce The Dublin Airport (Passenger Capacity) Bill 2026 for passage through the Houses of the Oireachtas “as soon as possible”.

The proposed legislation would empower the minister to make an order to revoke or amend the 32 million passenger cap that is currently in place. It would also allow him to prevent future caps.

O’Brien is seeking to raise the current cap to 40 million passengers per year, with the rationale being that Dublin Airport is “essential” to Ireland’s future economic growth and competitiveness.

The Department of Transport said the Minister will engage with An Coimisiún Pleanála who will carry out relevant assessments required under EU law and take the outcome of those assessments into account when making an order.

It also said the “Infrastructure Application” lodged by DAA is also progressing through the planning system. The application seeks permission to raise the passenger cap and develop several projects such as new piers and aircraft stands to facilitate the increase in passengers.

Mixed reaction

The DAA has said removal of the “outdated cap” at Dublin Airport by the end of 2026 is “good news for Ireland”.

It said there is “significant unmet demand” for connectivity between Ireland and South America, India and other destinations.

“Standing still as our population grows and other cities and countries compete to draw flights and destinations away from Dublin would be an own goal.”

Environmental concerns around the emissions from increased flights have been raised recently, but were not the primary reason why the cap was introduced in the first place.

Fingal County Council, the local authority for the area, gave the green light on planning permission for Terminal 2 back in 2007 on the condition that there would be a 32 million passenger cap.

In April last year, 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 effectively not in operation. 

Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman said the current passenger cap system was inappropriate as it treated “100 passengers on one 747 the exact same way as 100 different people taking 100 private airline flights”.

Instead, he said the airport should be regulated around carbon emissions and noise pollution.

“We need a system that regulates growth of Dublin Airport, looking at the challenges that it creates, the noise pollution for communities in the immediate area, and carbon emissions for the wider country.

“But this Government continues to kind of push this idea that there are no limits on anything, no limits on the growth of Dublin Airport, no limits on the number of new data centres we can put onto our grid, no limit to the number of new roads that we can build.

“And they’ve already almost joyously jettisoned our 2030 targets and any effort to actually meet those.”