Minister of Transport Eamon Ryan has rejected calls from Ryanair for him to intervene and lift the passenger cap at Dublin Airport.
Speaking to RTÉ News this evening, Mr Ryan said he could not act outside the law and ignore the planning system and provisions set out there to protect the public interest.
He added that An Bord Pleanála and the courts were the best places to decide those issues, not Government ministers “wading in.”
“Yes I would hold the right to be able to speak about public transport measures, just as I do about the airport and issues around aviation,” he said.
“But intervening to change the planning provisions or to change the law, just for commercial or one particular interest? That’s not in the interests of the Irish people.”
“That way lies madness, where you would have every Government minister every single time wading in to change the planning rules to suit whatever issue of the day.”
He added that planning interference in the past had done real damage to the country.
Earlier today, Ryanair said it will not be growing its routes in and out of Dublin this summer because of the passenger cap at the airport.
The company also warned that the cap is blocking its plan to grow Irish traffic by 50% between now and 2030.
However, launching its summer schedule, the airline said it is expecting to expand traffic at regional airports Cork, Shannon and Knock over the coming months.
“Dublin Airport is a piece of national infrastructure and we cannot wait four years or longer from planning delays to have the cap lifted,” Ryanair group chief executive Michael O’Leary said at a briefing in Dublin this morning.
Dublin Airport is close to its 32 million passengers per year limit and operator daa is currently seeking permission to have the cap lifted to 40 million.
Mr O’Leary said without the cap restrictions, it would have placed four more aircraft in Dublin for summer of 2024, creating 12 new routes and growing passenger numbers by 2 million on last year.
Instead, he said, the new aircraft will be placed elsewhere in Europe, with just one new aircraft coming to Ireland this summer, to Cork.
He added that Dublin is one of just three locations where it operates that are not growing this summer.
He said if the Government can not intervene by ministerial order then it should pass legislation to enable the cap to be increased.
Despite the difficulties in Dublin, the airline said it expects to add 50 new Boeing 737 aircraft and plans to open 80 new routes across Europe.
This will lead to traffic rising by 16 million passengers this year, from 183.5 million to over 200 million.
Earlier the Aer Lingus chief executive, Lynne Embleton, also said that the passenger cap at Dublin was a serious issue.
“And this has not been well managed at all,” she claimed.
“And it will have serious consequences if it isn’t lifted and that would be for the airlines, it would be for jobs and more importantly it is for the economy.”
She said an independent study had found that for every 1m passengers that don’t get to come into Ireland there is a €1.4bn loss to the economy in direct and indirect value.
She added that because Ireland is an island nation connectivity is really important, and so this needs to be resolved really quickly.
“And if that means a two step planning process where we get a quick interim lift to the passenger cap that may be necessary.”
Ms Embleton said for the moment the airline is sticking with its current plans for Dublin but is in dialogue with airport operator daa.
She said the other issue is the need to lift the long-term cap to 40m by 2030, which is something the airline supports.
She said she had seen references to increased carbon emissions and understandably that has become a debating point.
But she said the company’s forecasts show Aer Lingus can grow its passenger numbers 20% to 2030, reduce emissions per passenger and total net emissions.
“So the debate we need to be having around growth is good for the economy, and it can be done sensibly and with consideration to the environment,” she stated.
Speaking in the southeast today, Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe said he is “very broadly” in favour of more passengers coming through Dublin Airport but added that the daa’s application to raise the passenger cap needs to be dealt with through planning.
Asked if he agrees that the cap makes Dublin Airport uncompetitive, Mr Donohoe said: “This is currently the subject of a planning process”.
“This is being dealt with by Fingal County Council and it wouldn’t really be appropriate for me to be involved in a matter that is now being dealt with through our planning process,” he said.
“Very broadly I do support more passengers coming through our airport – that’s consistent with our national aviation policy. This specific matter of the cap is one that’s now being dealt with by our planning process,” he added.
