Minister for Transport Minister Darragh O’Brien will send a memo to Cabinet next month to begin the process of drafting legislation that will remove Dublin Airport’s 32 million a year passenger cap.
Planners imposed the cap in 2007 as a condition of allowing airport operator DAA to build a second terminal at Dublin, to address fears of traffic congestion. It has however been effectively suspended since the High Court referred questions raised in a legal challenge by airlines to the European courts.
The cap has long been opposed by the airport’s operator DAA as well as airlines including Ryanair, Europe’s biggest carrier, and Aer Lingus.
The Government was also warned over the summer that the US may limit Aer Lingus flights to its airports over the matter.
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Airlines for America, whose members include US and Canadian carriers that fly from the US to the Republic, maintains that the passenger limit at Dublin Airport breaches European Union-North American open-skies air-travel treaties.
Shortly after taking office in January, Mr O’Brien confirmed he had sought the advice of Attorney General Rossa Fanning on resolving the row through legislation. The Minister subsequently predicted this would be ready by the autumn.
Speaking at the weekend, Mr O’Brien said the meetings with Mr Fanning have taken place and that should the legislation proceed it will see a removal of the cap at Dublin Airport by the end of next year.
He called the development “a significant step forward” in an interview with the Sunday Independent. “I understand that the aviation sector … needs certainty and in the longer term that’s what we’re about providing,” he said.
“Dublin Airport is a critical piece of national infrastructure. In the Programme for Government, we were very clear and we said that we would work with stakeholders to remove the airport cap and allow the airport to grow sustainably.
“So this is a significant step forward and it is now on the legislative agenda to do that. I intend to advance legislation to enable the cap to be removed.”
Mr O’Brien insisted growth at the airport would have to be considered alongside the concerns of local residents who have long been opposed to any lifting of the restrictions.
“We are respected in aviation across the world and we have a state-of-the-art airport that’s now going to have, within the next number of years, a rail link, we have a better road network that’s there, we have a second terminal and we’ve got to grow the airport further,” he said.
“To do that, we need to ensure that we don’t have any false restrictions that are inhibiting that growth.
“The growth we want is sustainable, taking into account the local area, and I have always said that the airport should operate under a good neighbour policy and this [legislation] won’t change that.”
