Row over airport passenger cap rages on

The debate surrounding the passenger cap at Dublin Airport is rumbling on, with airport boss Kenny Jacobs adamant that the passenger camp should be raised from 32 million passengers to 40 million passengers.

While Jacobs’ ambitions for the airport have been well-publicised, numerous environmental groups and medical professionals have raised concerns about the passenger cap being raised as being damaging to the environment and would adversely affect the health of local residents.

A statement by the Irish Doctors for the Environment said “expanding Dublin Airport and increasing the passenger cap in the midst of a climate crisis is simply unacceptable.”

They stated that increasing the passenger cap “is an act of overt climate denial and undermines Ireland’s emissions pledges.”

Research from the group showed that a return trip from Dublin to the Canaries emits 1 tonne of C02 per person, which is the same amount that an average person living in Africa produces in an entire year.

They cited figures from the Dublin Airport Authority that raising the passenger cap would increase emissions by 22%. 

“The Lancet, the world’s most prestigious medical journal, has described climate change as the greatest global health threat in the 21st century – expanding Dublin Airport will only add to that threat.” 

The group said “the arguments put forward by the DAA and others supporting passenger expansion need to be seen in the context of numerous damning climate and biodiversity reports. Claims about how climate-friendly Dublin Airport is and how it makes perfect sense to expand the airport and increase passenger numbers cloud the truth.”

They remarked, “we cannot negotiate the physics of climate change with rhetoric and clever accounting.”

Speaking to the Business Post, Jacobs said “the myth that all you need to do is cap Dublin Airport and you solve emissions is false.”

He said there were a lot of “ands” surrounding emissions at Dublin Airport, and claimed it was not merely as simple as keeping the passenger cap as is. 

“There’s a lot of ‘ands’, and that is the complication of aviation.”

“It’s the fuel used, the aircraft, the engines, it’s the load factor; it’s where they are flying to, it’s everything that we want to do.”

He asserted that “you could reduce passengers at Dublin and you could lose Ryanair and you could lose Aer Lingus and you could bring in very, very old aircraft.”

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary went so far as to call Minister for Transport Éamon Ryan an “idiot” on RTÉ.

O’Leary told RTÉ that Ryan is “incompetent” and “does not want to touch Dublin Airport”. 

He claimed that the current passenger cap remaining in place would translate to higher airfares in the future and that Ryan, and the Green Party as a whole, had a “block” on the expansion of the airport.

He stated the Green Party and “the idiots on the left wrongly want to tax aviation companies and said that the idea of using Shannon or Cork more instead of increasing the passenger cap at Dublin Airport.”

He remarked that it was “the kind of stupidity only a Green minister would give you.”

Ryan took issue with O’Leary’s comments, saying that they were “personally abusive.”

He said that the decision about the passenger cap was not a decision to be made by him as Minister for Transport, and it will be made by Fingal County Council and by An Bord Pleanála.

Responding to the criticism, he said “I think it’s absolutely right that my colleagues, our local councillors, Green party politicians and others have raised some of the concerns they have.”

Green Party TD for Fingal Joe O’Brien was among those to personally submit an objection to Fingal County Council about Dublin Airport.

As reported in last week’s Northside People, O’Brien’s objection said the cap on passengers being raised and subsequent increase in flights would “significantly increase noise exposure from aircraft to residents of north county Dublin and cause a significant increase in greenhouse gas emissions.”

“During a climate emergency, I believe it is contrary to our national and international commitments to expand airport passenger numbers by 25%.”

Ryan added that there were valid concerns about noise levels in the local area, and there were concerns about regional development in Ireland. 

“We all know we are very lopsided in the country. All the development is happening in Dublin, but we need to see it happening in Shannon and Cork and elsewhere.”