Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) wants to increase passenger numbers at Dublin Airport from 32 million to 40 million per year.
According to the DAA this increase in passenger numbers “is required in order to meet forecasted demand”.
Fingal County Council is the statutory planning authority for Dublin Airport and is currently assessing the planning application submitted by the daa in December 2023.
Earlier this month the council requested additional information from the DAA in relation to the planning application.
Farming organisations and environmentalists have highlighted what they have described as the “contradictions” of potentially giving DAA a green light to increase passenger numbers against the backdrop of the agreed 51% cut in “economy wide” emissions by 2030.
The environmental charity, An Taisce, has said Dublin airport “is reinforcing the bad precedent that aviation operations are not subject to climate restrictions, despite our emissions reduction commitments under the Paris Agreement”.
“The government is now requiring other sectors, such as agriculture, to make huge sacrifices and transition towards low carbon forms of development under these climate laws.
“Meanwhile, the aviation sector is being allowed to continue business-as-usual,” an Tasice has stated.
Dublin Airport
Meanwhile the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) has said that any proposal to lift the cap on passenger numbers at Dublin Airport without referencing increased emissions is “surreal”.
The president of ICMSA, Denis Drennan, believes that the government must see that “it would be impossible for them to accede to Aer Lingus’s and DAA’s wishes for a 33% increase in flights – with the massively increased emissions involved – while demanding that farming and food production was cut to lower emissions associated with that activity”.
The Fine Gael TD who represents Dublin Fingal East, Alan Farrell, has also asked the Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan, to commission an independent audit of how Dublin Airport counted passenger numbers last year.
Deputy Farrell said: “The importance of Dublin Airport to the Irish economy does not grant the DAA a licence to operate outside of important rules and regulations.”
“I encourage Minister Ryan to ensure an independent audit takes place at the airport to get the correct facts here.”
Agriland survey
Agriland would like to know if you believe that DAA should get planning permission to increase passenger numbers at Dublin airport?
Simply answer the three questions in our snap survey below to let us know your thoughts and also feel free to add any additional comments in the box below.
Agriland will publish the full results of the survey on airport expansion plans and emissions.
The survey closed at 3:30p.m on Tuesday, February 27.