Dublin Airport (Passenger Capacity) Bill 2026: Committee and Remaining Stages Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-08 ============================================================ Darragh O'Brien (FF), Dublin Fingal East This may be the first time it has been proposed that we would cut 5,000 jobs from Dublin Airport and redeploy them across the regional airports. That is not what we are trying to do. We are trying to grow our airports and our connectivity in a balanced way. I fully respect the Senator's view; I just do not agree with it. The reality is that our regional airports are growing. Between now and 2030, we are investing €45 million to that end. This Bill is specifically about Dublin Airport. Matters have been raised, particular with regard to engaging with the affected communities. There are many thousands of people who live beside Dublin Airport who want to see the cap removed. They derive their income from the airport and want to see it continue to grow. I have already mentioned the more than 3 million passengers who flew through Cork Airport and the growth of Shannon Airport, which has just had its best half a year and which now has over 40 routes. However, a small number of people are impacted and they need to be listened to. Not only do they need to be listened to, their views need to be acted upon. Senator Clifford-Lee and others have discussed the voluntary purchase scheme with me. We will get to that later on. It needs to be improved. Under this Bill, the Minister will have the power to make directions in respect of any matter under the Bill. I expect that to happen. We have a new leadership team going into the airport. It is about a good neighbour policy, supporting jobs and connectivity, allowing the airport to grow in a sustainable way, and adherence to the granted flight paths. I am going to carry out an independent assessment of that once the cases are dispensed with and once the aircraft noise competent authority, which comes under Fingal County Council, makes its final decision. I have also protected the existing application that is with Fingal County Council right now. This does not set that aside at all. We are doing this in a very structured and careful way. As Government colleagues and some Opposition colleagues have said before, no one can argue for a false cap to be put on growth. A condition relating to vehicular access to the airport was introduced in 2007 and 2008. Next year, we are going to start construction on the long-awaited MetroLink. This is the first Government to fund MetroLink. Full planning permission has been granted. Preparatory work has started and the first tender is out. We are also significantly upgrading our rail lines right across the country. The landscape has changed since 2007 and 2008. There are still issues with a small number of residents that need to be dealt with. These issues need to be dealt with by agreement. That is the best way to do it. I am not speaking to an amendment. I am speaking to section 18 because Senator Higgins wanted to speak on that section. I have nothing further to say. I have explained that the environmental considerations are very clearly covered by section 24 of the Bill. I cannot issue an order without the relevant assessments being done. --- 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