It is quite something that a State-owned company openly admits that it will breach the law this year as DAA chief executive Kenny Jacobs has done in terms of passenger numbers at Dublin Airport.
According to Jacobs, despite DAA’s best efforts to comply with the limit of 32 million passengers a year set by Fingal County Council in 2007 as part of the planning permission for a second terminal at Dublin Airport, the threshold will be breached in 2024 with close to 33 million passengers going through its doors.
That’s about 5,000 aircraft that DAA wasn’t able to chase off its runways this year. A slot restriction imposed for the winter months by the Irish Aviation Authority should dampen numbers in the latter part of the year.
We all like to get off this damp island for a break and Jacobs is playing on the fact that most people view the cap as bonkers. But imagine the uproar if a property developer ignored their planning permission and added a storey or two to an apartment block, or built on green space that had been mandated by the planning authority?
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The DAA would no doubt be up in arms if someone opened a car park to serve the airport on adjoining land without the necessary planning approval.
The Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan (effectively Jacobs’ boss) told RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne show that the DAA would “have to abide by planning conditions” until a decision is made by Fingal on a stand-alone application from the company to lift the cap to 40 million passengers a year. That application has yet to be lodged.
It would be chaos if there was a decision not to abide by the law, Ryan warned. “It would be a free-for-all.”
Jacobs said the uncertainty created by the passenger cap was “not the best look for Ireland” and would likely affect foreign direct investment, although there is no evidence of that. One thing is certain, it is not a good look for a State-owned company or its chief executive to breach legally-binding planning rules.
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