Dublin Airport (Passenger Capacity) Bill 2026: Committee and Remaining Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-08
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Alice-Mary Higgins (IND), National University of Ireland

I will just respond to that. I will leave aside rehashing the Planning and Development Act. I am certainly very happy with the position I took on those points. The fast-tracking of LNG, which we flagged and were told would not happen, is happening now. I refer to the acceleration in terms of large-energy users and data centres. Those were the concerns hiding behind the windmills discussion. Of course, I wanted to see accelerated renewable energy, but we have a problem, which is that we are accelerating a number of the problems as well. That is why having proper checks and balances is important.
The fact we are a major player internationally on aviation is why we have a particular responsibility. Coming back to that comment on differentiated responsibilities, this is why how we do aviation particularly matters. It sends a signal regarding what has been described by the IPCC as one of the industries that is hardest to abate. It is one of the areas on which the world has not got a grip. It is an area where emissions are out of control and are not being reined back in.
I was clear on connectivity, in that those are very reasonable grounds, if there was a meaningful threat to our connectivity, so I do not oppose that. I am concerned about the money-making as the driving piece in that regard. There are cases to be made, but us doing aviation responsibly is particularly important because we are one of the bigger players, and it is not responsible and does not send a very good signal if one of the major players in aviation internationally decides to disapply parts of its own climate legislation, which this Bill does.
The Minister has said we will have an environmental impact assessment and he will get the commission to do it, but, under the Bill, it states that the Minister and the commission, in performing their functions, shall not be subject to the requirements referred to in section 15(1) of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015. The Minister has said the commission is going to do a review, but when it does that review, it will not be bound by the pretty reasonable things that are in section 15.
It states:
A relevant body shall, in the performance of its functions, have regard to—
(a) the most recent approved national mitigation plan,
(b) the most recent approved national adaptation framework ...
(c) the furtherance of the national transition objective, and
(d) the objective of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to the effects of climate change in the State.
Those are pretty reasonable things to think about, but the obligation to think about them is being removed. This is what is there. This is what disapplying section 15 means in respect of saying a review can be done, an environmental assessment undertaken and everything else. The Minister would not be removing that obligation unless he was pretty sure that the commission, in doing its job with regard to section 15 and actually having to think about climate mitigation and our goals in this regard, might not come up with the answer that the Minister or lobbyists would like. This is why we disapply these things, and then say the commission is doing its job. It is not, because the Minister is tying its hands in respect of what it should be considering. The Minister is then asking us to accept that he is so great because he is letting it give him advice.
This is not good enough and not adequate. It is irresponsible. It is not about saying that everybody has to travel in a certain way and every flight has to be taken away. Everybody takes flights. The question is whether there should be a constant checking, balancing and responsible review to ensure there would be proper measures. The Minister is removing checks and balances and replacing them with his own customised ones. It is not good enough in respect of what the ultimate picture, including the ultimate economic picture, and the fines, collectively, will be for everybody else. In that regard, I am going to proceed with pressing my amendments. I am not satisfied that the measures are otherwise addressed.

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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