Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 1 February 2024
2. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Transport if he is satisfied with the method used to calculate passenger numbers at Dublin Airport and if he will take action to ensure that the airport remains within the passenger cap. [4820/24]
View answerIt was revealed last weekend in The Irish Times that the Dublin Airport Authority, DAA, is cooking the books in terms of the numbers of passengers going through the airport and, in reality, is breaching the passenger cap. If all passengers going through the airport were properly counted, the airport would have breached the 32 million passengers per annum cap by more than 1 million. What action will the Department take to ensure that the airport maintains the passenger cap?
I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. Dublin Airport Authority has statutory responsibility for the management, operation and development of Dublin Airport. The cap of 32 million passengers per annum currently in place at the airport is a condition attached to the planning permission granted for Terminal 2. The condition was put in place principally to limit the amount of traffic pressure on the access infrastructure, roads and public transport at Dublin Airport.
The publication of the 2023 passenger figures by DAA last week show continued strong growth in demand for air travel post Covid-19 at both Dublin and Cork airports. Indeed, all airports in the State have reported very strong recovery in traffic with most experiencing record levels of traffic in 2023.
When publishing its passenger figures for 2023 last week, DAA set out the methodology it used for the enumeration of passengers. In summary, it reported that: the total number of passengers that passed through the two terminals at Dublin airport was 31.9 million, 1.08 million connecting passengers used the airport terminals and a further group of 532,000 people included transit passengers who do not leave the plane, search-and-rescue and air ambulance passengers.
All planning matters, including the interpretation or enforcement of conditions or decisions, are matters for the statutorily independent planning bodies. In this instance that is the relevant planning authority, Fingal County Council. I or, indeed, the Government have no role in such matters.
As I am sure the Deputy will be aware, DAA recently submitted a planning application to Fingal County Council seeking to increase the passenger cap to 40 million passengers per annum and seeking planning permission for capacity enhancing projects, including new aircraft piers and stands as part of the airport's capital investment programme.
DAA has indicated that it will continue to manage wider passenger capacity through the terminals at Dublin Airport to ensure that the planning conditions are not breached. To ensure compliance with the 32 million passenger cap, it is engaging with wider stakeholders regarding the management of capacity at the airport in 2024.
I raised this with the Minister, and I had the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers answer me, on 30 November. The Minister of State assured me then that "the CEO of the DAA has confirmed that, until planning permission ... is granted, it will continue to manage passenger capacity ... to ensure this planning condition [of 32 million] is not breached." DAA is breaching it. It is in the newspapers.
Is the Minister of State seriously telling me that the Government accepts the idea that if a passenger does not set foot in terminal 1 or terminal 2, but he or she goes through the airport, he or she is not a passenger going through Dublin Airport? Is the Minister of State seriously telling me that we can exclude more than 1 million people connecting flights? Arguably, that equals 2 million - an incoming flight and an outgoing flight. In addition, it excludes more than 500,000 people who did not set foot in the airports two terminals.
Do these figures exclude private jet passengers? Do they count, because they do not go through terminals 1 and 2? The passenger cap only applies to ordinary people flying on ordinary planes and not on the super rich, and that is perhaps why DAA could assure US business lobbyists a few weeks ago that they can "comfortably handle" an increased number of private jets.
As I stated in my previous response, they provided the methodology in how the passenger cap is calculated and its enumeration. The total number of number passengers that passed through the terminals was 31.9 million, in excess of 1 million connecting passengers use the airport terminals and more than 500,000 included transit passengers did not leave the plane or were search-and-rescue and air ambulance passengers.
The other important point is that the condition, which was put in place around this specific passenger cap, related to infrastructure, roads and public transport at Dublin Airport.
The Government does not provide the interpretation on a planning decision. That is a matter for Fingal County Council, as the relevant planning authority. We do not have a specific role in such matters. It is the same for enforcement of any planning condition.
The DAA has provided the methodology all right and the methodology says we are cooking the books. The Minister of State is telling me that the Government and a Department led by a Green Minister does not mind and says that it is nothing to do with them.
Are private jet customers included? Are they included in the figure that keeps under 32 million cap the 31.9 million figure which DAA uses after effectively cooking the books? It is not sustainable. I accept what the Minister of State said about roads, etc., but in terms of climate targets and not burning our planet, it is not sustainable to keep expanding the number of flights that are going through our country and other countries. Surely, it should be a policy goal of the Government to stop that happening. Obviously, that is not the case. The Taoiseach said he is in favour of increasing the passenger cap. Surely the Government and the Department should have a position. It seems the planning permission conditions are being flouted, effectively, by using this methodology that the Minister of State referred to which is a dubious methodology, and the Government should have a position on it.
The matters relating to enforcement of a planning decision are a matter for Fingal County Council, as the relevant planning authority. They will assess the methodology used in the enumeration of passengers. As I have said, if one reads the planning condition, it relates to pressure on infrastructure roads and public transport.
Dublin Airport and, indeed, the wider economic approach will require an increase in the passenger cap if we want to continue to be connected as an island and as a country and to continue to remain competitive. That is why our national aviation policy is about facilitating increased opportunities for Dublin Airport to expand as a passenger hub, and I support that. That obviously will take time to work through the planning system but it is important to keep opportunities for competition in our airport and connectivity, which is a key facilitator of economic development. That is something that I support. As I said, it is working through the planning process at present.
