Dublin Airport (Passenger Capacity) Bill 2026: Committee and Remaining Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-08
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Darragh O'Brien (FF), Dublin Fingal East

I will start with Senator Alice-Mary Higgins. I suggest she may be reading the Bill incorrectly. I refer her to section 24, which specifically outlines:
The Minister shall not make an order under section 25(1) unless—
(a) the Commission has carried out an environmental impact assessment of the proposal and issued a reasoned conclusion in accordance with section 15 , and
(b) the Commission has carried out an appropriate assessment of the proposal and—
(i) the Commission has made a determination in accordance with section 21(6)
The only reason it is disapplied in section 18 is that is covered in another part of the Bill, section 24. It is outlined there. I will not read the full section. I will not be able to issue an order unless the assessments are carried out. That is very clearly set out in section 24 of the Bill. The Senator will see it there. It does not need to be in the Bill twice. That is why it is disapplied.
In response to Senator Joe Conway, I am not sure I have much more to say. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but they are not entitled to their own facts. The reality is that the regional airports are growing. The numbers I have given the Senator are correct. They are good. I have not made them up. You can grow jobs across the-----

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Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:10+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-08