Mr. Donal Moriarty:

Primarily there are planning constraints and issues. Dublin Airport is arguably the most important strategic national infrastructure on the island, yet, from a planning process perspective, it has to go through a very onerous process, managed at first instance by Fingal County Council to get approval for any development. That is a severe constraint. In the two years of Covid not enough progress was made from the perspective of planning permission. Planning applications and permissions can be achieved without the requirement for capital investment. There was a missed opportunity in those two years to make positive progress on the planning side. We understand that the strategic planning application for Dublin Airport will be made in 2023. It should have been made earlier. That in itself will be a constraint. In terms of charges and funding, Dublin Airport is a regulated airport. The CAR conducts a process regarding the appropriateness of airport charges. They factor the capital investment programme into that, and it is a key lever and component, along with other key levers like passenger numbers, of their assessment of what the airport charges should be. That process has been done. I understand the commission will publish its pricing determination in a number of weeks. It will probably be pre-Christmas, once the legislative hurdle of the Bill is enacted. I believe that is imminent and the charging will be published imminently. That will take into account the requirement to deliver the capital investment programme.