Dublin Airport (Passenger Capacity) Bill 2026: Committee and Remaining Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-08
============================================================

Lorraine Clifford-Lee (FF), Nominated by the Taoiseach

I welcome the opportunity to speak to these amendments. I come at them from the point of view of somebody who lives very close to Dublin Airport. I support Dublin Airport, the jobs it creates and its input into the economy. I also support the communities around the airport.
It is important to point out that what is proposed here does not take away from the development of our regional airports. I am familiar with our regional airports and the necessity of them. It is also worth pointing out that the passenger numbers going through our regional airports have actually increased. This is something that the Government supports. We have a growing population. Therefore, we need greater connectivity. It is good to see that. It is reflective of a strong economy, but the strong economy dictates that we need to have a strong national airport serving the needs of our economy. That is what Dublin Airport does. The carriers dictate the routes. It is not for the Government, the Minister or any individual to dictate how a particular route is formed.
I can understand the frustrations of some people who have to travel for a number of hours before they can reach the airport and travel on to their onward destination. That is something that needs to be addressed, but I do not know whether it is for the Government to address. The Government supports regional airports.
I disagree with Senator Collins on this matter. I do not think raising the cap on passengers at Dublin Airport will give rise to a reduction in the number of people going through the regional airports. I do not think limiting the number of people going through Dublin Airport will shift that out to the regional airports. There are two different offerings. We should focus our efforts on trying to improve the situation around Dublin Airport for the residents near Dublin Airport and look to the wider the economy and the benefit of Dublin Airport to the economy and the needs of the local community. We should not get distracted about a completely separate issue, which is the regional airports.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-07-08/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:10+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-08