Fingal County Council has refused planning permission to the operator of Dublin Airport for a planned expansion of the airport’s existing US customs pre-clearance and border protection facility.
Airport operator DAA in May lodged the plans to deal with “chronic congestion” at the facility and in response to the growing numbers of transatlantic passengers using Dublin Airport.
The operator believes that 1.7 million passengers will use the pre-clearance facility in 2023 which is a 13 per cent increase on 2022.
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However, the council has refused planning permission after finding that the proposal would be premature pending the determination by the road authority of the detailed road network to serve the area.
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The council found that the expansion plan contravened objectives of the Fingal Development Plan 2023-2029, which seeks to provide balanced road infrastructure to manage traffic and to cater for the comprehensive development of the airport and facilitate the ongoing augmentation and reconfiguration of existing terminal facilities.
The council issued the refusal after its 63-page planner’s report concluded that the proposed development would intensify use of the terminal.
The airport operator has the option of appealing the decision to An Bord Pleanála. A spokesman for the operator said on Friday: “DAA is disappointed by the decision and will now take time to review it in detail and consider our next steps.”
A consultant’s report lodged by DAA outlined the present capacity difficulties the existing customs and border pre-clearance presents.
Pre-clearance overflow
A Coakley O’Neill report indicated to the council that the pre-clearance overflow queuing system was required to be used five out of every seven days in the summer of 2022 and is projected to be required even more this summer.
Coakley O’Neill stated that “[it] is therefore the case that the current pre-clearance facility does not have the capacity to cater for the existing passengers”.
However, the sole objector to the proposal, the Irish Air Line Pilots Association (Ialpa) stated that existing pre-clearance facilities at Dublin Airport are “more than sufficient” for the airport’s annual 32 million passenger per annum cap.
Questioning the need for the expanded facility in a submission to the council, director of safety at Ialpa David Morrissey said that the association has demonstrated that the current US facility “no longer suffers from congestion issues”.
The pre-clearance facilities at Dublin and Shannon Airports allow US-bound passengers to undertake all US immigration, customs and agriculture inspections at the airports prior to departure.
