Fingal County Council has issued an enforcement notice to the operators of Dublin Airport for breaching the cap of 32 million passengers a year.
The local authority has given daa a two-year period to comply with planning conditions imposed by An Bord Pleanála in 2008, when they granted planning permissions for the construction of Terminal 2 and the extension of Terminal 1.
They said the action was in response to complaints they received that the conditions were breached in 2023 and 2024.
Fingal County Council Planning Authority’s Enforcement Unit initiated a formal investigation to assess compliance with the conditions and issued daa with a warning letter.
In a statement, Fingal County Council said it acknowledges the “operational complexities presented”.
However, it said the information submitted by daa does not constitute sufficient grounds to prevent further action.
A spokesman 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 spokesperson for daa said the enforcement notice showed the need for the planning system to be overhauled.
“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 spokesperson said.
They added: “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.”
“When it took up office, the Government committed to acting speedily to identify and implement a legislative solution that would remove the passenger cap from Dublin Airport.
“The Minister has since also said he will bring forward legislation to solve the cap issue, dispel uncertainty and maintain connectivity for Ireland – and this can’t happen quickly enough.”
Residents at Dublin Airport have accused daa of “breathtaking arrogance” is its response to the enforcement notice.
The St Margarets The Ward residents group said daa was on the one hand refusing to provide vital noise pollution data for its 40 million passenger capacity application and on the other demanding Government cuts them what it described as “a sweetheart deal” for unrestricted growth.
SMTW spokesman Liam O’Gradaigh said: “Daa has shown breathtaking arrogance in its response to the Fingal enforcement notice. The airport authority has been in breach of the capacity in 2023 and 2024. Now it has been given two years to comply. This is zombie enforcement. Residents living locally continue to suffer and have been exposed to harmful levels of noise.”
