‘Dishonesty’ on climate goals and passenger cap, Greens claim

Moves to abolish the Dublin Airport passenger cap expose a “fundamental dishonesty” in the Government’s approach to climate targets, the Green Party has said.

Transport Minister Darragh O’Brien secured Cabinet approval on Tuesday to draft laws that could lift or scrap the divisive measure.

The 32 million passenger cap, a planning condition issued by the local authority where the airport is based, has come under legal and political scrutiny.

Concerns have been raised that it could hamper the Irish economy and connectivity if maintained, while others say it should not be lifted as Ireland attempts to halve its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary has criticised Taoiseach Micheal Martin and the Government for not removing the cap over a year after entering office.

Transport Minister Darragh O’Brien said it was a “very detailed” and “complex piece of legislation”, but added that he expects it to be brought to the Oireachtas “on an expedited basis”.

“There’s three principles that are enshrined in the legislation, and one is the power to amend the existing cap, the power to revoke a cap, but also, very importantly, looking into the future, to include any acquisition of a cap into the future based on any future application,” he said.

He said that national infrastructure as “critical” as Dublin Airport should not be overseen by a local authority and they would look to deem the airport as critical infrastructure.

Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman said the Government needed to be “honest” about “limits to growth in Dublin Airport”.

Mr O’Gorman, who served in Cabinet alongside Mr O’Brien in the previous coalition, said the current passenger cap system was inappropriate as it treated “100 passengers on one 747 the exact same way as 100 different people taking 100 private airline flights”.

He said that the airport should be regulated around carbon emissions and noise pollution.

“We need a system that regulates growth of Dublin Airport, looking at the challenges that it creates, the noise pollution for communities in the immediate area, and carbon emissions for the wider country.

“But this Government continues to kind of push this idea that there are no limits on anything, no limits on the growth of Dublin Airport, no limits on the number of new data centres we can put onto our grid, no limit to the number of new roads that we can build.

“And they’ve already almost joyously jettisoned our 2030 targets and any effort to actually meet those.”

He added: “Ultimately, we’re all going to pay for this, because those 2030 targets, if they’re not met, there’s going to be very substantial fines that Ireland are going to have to pay.”

Asked if environmental concerns had gone out the window, Business Minister Peter Burke said “they’re absolutely not”.

“If you look at aviation, technology is moving fast, but it still has a journey to go,” he said.

“We’re an island economy, we’re not going to essentially push the airport into the abyss and have no more growth for our economy, no more growth for the tourism sector.

“So I think as an island economy, that’s very clear, air connectivity is pivotal to our success story as a country.”

Asked if he had been in touch with Mr O’Leary on the issue, he said he had not been.

The decision comes a month after Mr O’Leary criticised the Government over doing “very little” on the passenger cap, housing or infrastructure in the first 13 months in office.

“It’s not like they’ve been busy passing other legislation last year,” Mr O’Leary said of the passenger cap at a high-profile press conference in Dublin.

The airline chief said the passenger cap should be scrapped before St Patrick’s Day.