Dublin Airport hit with enforcement notice over passenger cap breaches
Dublin Airport has blasted Ireland's "broken" planning system after it was hit with a two-year enforcement order for breaching its passenger cap.
Airport operators daa say they have been waiting for a decision on both its infrastructure and operational applications - both of which would remove the current 32 million passenger cap - from An Bord Pleanala for five years. A spokesperson for daa has called for the removal of the passenger cap and an "urgent" overhaul of the current planning system.
He said: "The fact that Fingal County Council is sending us an enforcement notice regarding 32 million passengers when passenger numbers will be north of 36 million this year and heading towards 40 million before the end of the decade is 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. The system is quite simply broken and needs to be overhauled urgently.
"Until that happens our national airport is hamstrung and can't get on with its mandate to grow Ireland's connectivity. The passenger cap on Dublin Airport needs to be removed once and for all and the airport needs to be reclassified as national strategic infrastructure, with decisions made by a national planning body and not a local authority."
DAA submitted a non-build application to the local authority in January which would allow it increase passenger capacity to 36 million. However, Fingal County Council declared this submission invalid and issued a request for further information which daa objected to.
The council said the enforcement order issued today was in response to complaints received that the conditions were breached in 2023 and 2024. A spokesperson for the council said: 'The two-year period provides an opportunity for daa to progress their planning applications to increase passenger capacity at Dublin Airport or take such other steps as they consider appropriate to achieve compliance.'
A Warning Letter was issued to daa providing them with an opportunity to respond. The airport operators responded to this letter but council officials said while it acknowledges the complexities presented it "does not constitute sufficient grounds to prevent further action"
The council added: "The investigation has determined that a breach of the relevant planning conditions has occurred and remains ongoing. Fingal County Council, in accordance with its legal obligations as the Planning Authority, has issued an Enforcement Notice under Section 154 of the Planning and Development Act 2000. DAA has been given two years to bring its operations into compliance."
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