Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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No, the Minister cannot instruct the IAA in that way. It is slightly more nuanced than that but I understand the point Mr. O'Leary is making.

I asked a question about Mr. O'Leary's understanding of how it works because he will understand - and I am in politics for 20 years as of yesterday - that writing to the Minister is a political move rather than a regulatory move. It sounds great at an Oireachtas committee, and I am not defending the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan. He is not of my party albeit I am a supportive member of Government. My view would be that this is not Mr. O'Leary's first rodeo. He has been here before. Writing to the Minister to inform him of flights and 514,000 passenger numbers forgone is absolutely newsworthy and absolutely worth writing to the Minister about. However, I cannot help but feel if there is a regulatory process in place for Mr. O'Leary as an airline group chief executive officer adhere to, it is to go through IAA and the usual planning process, which I know he has done.

I simply wish to make the point there are two things going on before this committee. One, is an example of the strength of Mr. O'Leary's airline, which of course notable and welcome. The other is the politics. As a committee, our role is a bit of both as well. For the purposes of exploring the question underneath the caption on the screen behind me, which is about the impacts of the passenger cap, flights forgone are clearly central to that but there are other considerations.

For instance, the planning process we are now in - and to my knowledge there are at least two and possibly three under way - the statutory requirements of the independent aircraft noise regulator also has to be considered. In fact, it is the regulator that will most likely provide for the longest delay in this planning process, even if the planning decision by Fingal County Council is made in the next 18 months. It will then go to An Bord Pleanála and ultimately end up in the courts. I would be of that view, as I think Mr. O'Leary is.

The noise impact assessment will also take a very considerable period of time. There are two noise impact assessments going on at the moment as Mr. O'Leary probably knows. One is on the use of the north runway and the second is on the potential impact of removing the passenger cap. Will Mr. O'Leary comment on that or perhaps Mr. Kealy, who I think was indicating?