Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 12 June 2024

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport

Impact of Passenger Cap at Dublin Airport on Ryanair's Business and Operations: Ryanair

Mr. Michael O'Leary:

First, it will not be two. We think it is going to be four. There is absolutely no question that whatever decision An Bord Pleanála makes will be appealed and there will be High Court judicial review. It will be four years before this gets fixed. I do not believe we can have a credible transport Minister or credible transport and aviation policy if they are to be hijacked by a local planning issue for the next four years. There are two immediate instruments that can be used by either the transport Minister or the housing Minister. We are calling for this because Dublin Airport is a piece of national infrastructure. We must have a measure that says we can raise, ignore or suspend the cap while this planning application takes four years. Nobody believes that at the end of the planning Dublin Airport will be restricted to 32 million passengers per year.