Tourists visiting Dublin should consider flying to Shannon or Cork airports, the international transport minister has said.
James Lawless made the remarks amid a long-running dispute over a passenger cap at Dublin Airport.
Ireland’s busiest airport is only allowed to fly through a maximum of 32 million passengers a year based on planning conditions from 15 years ago.
Airlines have called for the cap to be lifted to meet demand and senior ministers have said the limit is a risk to economic growth, while others have questioned the impact of removing the restriction as Ireland aims to reduce its carbon emissions.
The limit was originally brought in during planning permission for the airport’s second terminal in 2007, over concerns about traffic around the airport.
Ryanair has raised concerns that requests for additional flight slots will be rejected by the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA).
The operator of Dublin Airport, DAA, has itself warned that it is on course to breach the cap this year – with passenger numbers expected to be closer to 33 million. It has asked planning authorities to lift the cap.
Mr Lawless, who is minister of state for international transport, met Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary on Wednesday as part of a series of engagements with key stakeholders on the passenger cap.
Afterwards, the junior minister at the Department of Transport told reporters that it was his “preferred outcome” that planning authorities imminently lift the cap to 40 million, but added that efforts to mitigate the effects of the limit had to be taken in the interim.
He said an “obvious solution” was to increase the use of Shannon Airport and Cork Airport, which are not subjected to caps.
The minister of state said airlines should explore increasing connections to the regional airports, adding that there may be an infrastructure risk in Ireland’s reliance on Dublin Airport.
He said: “There’s nobody in a better place than Ryanair and with a better proven record at marketing outlying airports as a destination.
“I’ve gone to Paris (Beauvais) with Ryanair, Venice (Treviso) with Ryanair – why can’t I fly to Dublin (Shannon) with Ryanair?”
Shannon Airport is around 230 kilometres away from Dublin City centre or at least two and a half hours depending on method of travel while Cork Airport is 260 kilometres away or at least three hours.
Pressed on whether he would advise tourists who want to visit Dublin to consider using another airport, he said: “Yes, very much so.”
Mr Lawless said the Dublin Airport passenger cap was a difficult “legacy issue dating back to 2007”.
“Unfortunately, the application from DAA was only made in November 2023, we’d all be in a better place if that had been made sooner.
“Related to that is An Bord Pleanála decision around the noise quota, which is a system Fingal County Council have engineered to manage residents’ concerns.
“I think it is a good system but it has been appealed to An Bord Pleanála and sat with them for two years now.”
Mr Lawless also suggested there could potentially be leeway on how passengers are counted under the cap, including people connecting through the airport, and multiple people travelling in the same vehicle.
Asked if he was concerned about the environmental implications of raising the cap, Mr Lawless said there were “other ways to mitigate that” as he pointed to a departmental taskforce on more environmentally friendly fuels.
For his part, Mr O’Leary characterised the meeting as unproductive. The airline boss has publicly clashed with senior Transport Minister Eamon Ryan several times over the matter, who he described as “woeful” and “useless”.
Ryanair communications staff handed members of the gathered press copies of a letter which the company had drafted for Mr Ryan, issuing policy directions to the IAA to disregard the passenger cap during the planning process and facilitate additional airline slot requests.
Mr O’Leary said: “All he has to do is stick his signature on it.”
On the proposal, Mr Lawless said he was “not convinced it is a runner” due to planning and legal issues.
Mr O’Leary further questioned how ministers could use the Government jet out of Dublin Airport this winter, adding: “They’re all extra slots. Maybe they’ll all have to stay at home.”
The Ryanair chief executive said the company was unable to get slots to transport the Leinster rugby flight to its winter matches abroad, for Christmas-time charters to Lapland, and other winter extra flights.
He said using the notion of breaching planning restrictions was an “excuse” and “distraction” from pursuing Government policy on aviation.
Mr O’Leary also rejected the notion that the additional flights could operate from other Irish airports, saying “60 per cent of the traffic is inbound and it doesn’t want to go to Shannon or Cork, it wants to go to Dublin”.
Earlier this year, Mr O’Leary hosted a publicity stunt where he held a cardboard cut-out of Mr Ryan wearing a superimposed dunce cap.
Mr Ryan has announced he will not seek re-election.
Asked if he was concerned that the Ryanair boss may now put a dunce cap on his head, Mr Lawless said: “Maybe I’ll do the same with him.”
He added: “We’re professionals, we’ve got to work together. No, if you’re in politics – you have to have a thick skin.”
The minister of state said successfully fulfilling the national aviation policy was not about Mr O’Leary or any other industry or political figure.
