Junior Transport Minister James Lawless has announced that he is set to meet with Ryanair group chief executive Michael O’Leary, next Wednesday, to discuss the current Dublin Airport passenger cap.
Minister Lawless has already met with local residents, airport operator Daa, Cork Airport, Shannon Airport Group and other business groups.
He intends to meet with other airlines – including Aer Lingus – as well as regulators and tourism industry groups, as part of the stakeholder talks.
In a statement, Minister Lawless said: “Naturally, the prospect of constraints on connectivity are a matter of concern for me in terms of its potential impact on the travelling public, business and tourism.
“I wish to reiterate that this Government is in favour of increasing the capacity of Dublin Airport, which is in line with the National Aviation Policy.
“In light of this, I am undertaking a series of engagements with key stakeholders to seek to limit the impact of this constraint.”
“My objective is to ensure that connectivity to and from Ireland can continue to grow and I believe this can be achieved in the short to medium term, through our other airports at Cork and Shannon which are ready and able to take more passengers.
“I keenly await the decision of An Bord Pleanála in relation to Dublin Airport night flights, which has been under consideration since August 2022.
“This decision concerns the night-time operations on the new runway at the airport and is key to daa progressing the planning application to amend the existing planning condition limiting the number of passengers using the two terminals at Dublin Airport to 32m passengers per annum.
“Ensuring the planning authorities are adequately resourced is key to ensuring decisions are made in a reasonable time frame. I expect that the increase in resources at An Bord Pleanála, both at board and staff level, will improve the decision-making capacity of the board significantly.”
