The Government plans to formally start work on removing the 32 million annual passenger cap at Dublin Airport before the October Budget, Transport Minister Darragh O’Brien has confirmed.
However, it is understood that it could be as late as the back end of 2026 before the cap is fully removed.
“I’ve had a series of meetings over the course of the last number of months, particularly with our legal advisors, and I’ll be coming forward to Cabinet, hopefully before the Budget, with legislative options that is in seeking approval to proceed with drafting Heads of Bill and the general scheme,” Minister O’Brien said in an interview on RTÉ Radio 1’s Morning Ireland show.
The Minister said he wanted to see the passenger cap removed and that retaining it would stifle growth at the country’s main air hub. But, he also told RTÉ that growth needed to be managed in a sustainable manner.
“You have obviously got to do that on a phased basis. One is not going to jump from 36 million to 60 million in the course of one, five, ten years,” he said.
“The night flights issue has been addressed in July, which gives clarity to the airport and indeed to residents around the operation of the airport at night.
“We’re expecting, very, very shortly in the coming weeks, a positive decision on Metrolink, which is a transformative project for the airport, and indeed for the region.
“The physical infrastructure around the airport that existed back in 2007 when this planning permission was granted and that condition was put in place, has changed greatly and will change further.”
The 32 million passenger cap came in in 2007 as part of the conditions around the building of the then-new Terminal 2 building, and at a time when Dublin Airport had a yearly intake of 23 million passengers. It is now comfortably exceeding the 32 million limit.
