Under a planning restriction dating from 2007, Dublin Airport’s passenger numbers are supposed to be capped at 32 million a year.
But, as we all know, this restriction is pure fiction. More than 33 million passengers went through the doors of the airport last year and 36 million-plus are expected to use it this year as a result of court rulings that have put a stay on the cap while we await a ruling from Europe.
It’s an Irish solution to an Irish problem. To add to the confusion and mess, Fingal County Council this week issued an enforcement notice to DAA on foot of complaints by local residents.
Nobody comes out of this shambles well. Government should have moved long ago to sort out the cap and remove planning regulation of Dublin Airport from the remit of the council. Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien promised a solution on taking office in January, but none has emerged to date.
DAA described Fingal’s enforcement notice as a “sorry indictment of the mess that is the Irish planning system, particularly when it comes to the most vital piece of transport infrastructure on this island”.
That might be so, but it is also an indictment of DAA’s dithering over 16 years before submitting an infrastructure application in December 2023 that would allow it to increase traffic through Dublin Airport.
And it is not a good look for a state-owned company to breach legally binding planning rules.
[ `Zombie’ Dublin Airport passenger cap could be removed by legislationOpens in new window ]
Willie Walsh, the former Aer Lingus and IAG chief who is now head of Geneva-based airlines trade body IATA, has said we are a laughing stock internationally, with people scratching their heads as to why a small island nation on the edge of western Europe that relies heavily on foreign direct investment would be tying itself up in knots with a cap on growth at its biggest international airport.
He’s not wrong.
