The ministers and their officials were welcomed by airport managing director, Niall MacCarthy, and airport management and received a detailed briefing on the various elements of the daa Group’s €200 million capital development programme.

Following the briefing, the ministers performed the official ribbon cutting ceremony for the new staff and goods security screening area, which was completed over a three-month period, on-time and on-budget by PJ Hegarty & Sons, working with daa Infrastructure and AtkinsRéalis, the design team.

The ministers and department officials also had the opportunity to take a tour and view the progress on the new mezzanine floor, which will be the location of the airport’s new passenger security screening area.

This facility, which will open in December of this year, is also progressing on-time and on-budget and the Ministers were provided with a tour by representatives of PJ Hegarty & Sons., construction partners for the project along with members of the daa Infrastructure team.

Managing director at Cork Airport, Niall MacCarthy said: “Cork Airport experienced its highest ever passenger numbers last year and was named Best Regional Airport in Europe by ACI Europe.

“Our capital programme, once complete, will put in the infrastructure to handle five million passengers and beyond. We are proud of delivering quality infrastructure projects, on-time and on-budget, and compliment our construction partners and team.”

Speaking on the occasion of his visit to Cork Airport, Minister for Transport, Darragh O’Brien TD, said: “I am heartened to see that daa’s capital programme is proceeding at pace and demonstrating on-time, on-budget delivery.

“Once completed, this development programme will deliver efficiencies along with a better passenger experience for all those who will travel through the airport.”

Echoing Minister O’Brien’s comments, Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Jerry Buttimer TD, added: “Cork Airport supports over 12,000 jobs in our region and is responsible for an economic impact of over €1 billion.

“I’m delighted to see the infrastructure expansion and I am engaging strongly to improve public transport links to make the airport more accessible across the region.”

Credits: Cork Airport

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The Department of Transport issued a statement to say the Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien is to bring a memo to Cabinet in the coming weeks on the issue.

It said the Minister is now pursuing “a legislative course of action” to make the lifting of the passenger cap happen.

It is understood that he will bring a memo to Government on the policy decision and to seek approval for the “development of a general scheme” and associated heads of Bill.

“If approved, a second memo with a General Scheme and associated heads of Bill to be brought to Government for a decision on priority drafting thereafter.”

The passenger cap at Dublin Airport is a long-running row with concerns vocalised regularly on both sides of the dispute.

Earlier this week, Michael O’ Leary, Chief Executive of Ryanair, accused the Government of breaking its promise with the current cap of 38 million passengers a year still in place.

“We elected a Government. They published a programme in January, promising to remove the cap as soon as possible, and nine months later, in September, no action,” he said. “We have a do nothing Government, a do nothing Minister.”

These signs of movement is likely to see arguments raised again on the economic benefits of removing the cap versus a rise in pollution.

While the passenger limit is opposed by airlines and the Dublin Airport Authority, resident groups and climate campaigners are angered by this likelihood of it progressing, in what they say, is the wrong direction.

Niamh Maher, a spokesperson for St Margaret’s The Ward Residents Group, said it is deeply upsetting that this is happening as other issues of concern such as more night flights have not been resolved.

Children’s Rights over Flights, a climate action group said it is “appalled” to hear that Minister Darragh O’Brien is attempting to push through the removal of the passenger cap at Dublin airport.

In a statement, it said “it is truly shocking that a minister tasked with tackling climate change “is taking steps that would massively increase the pollution causing”.

The cap on passengers at Dublin Airport has been in place since 2007 to limit traffic congestion.

Daa estimated that total greenhouse gas emissions at Dublin Airport would rise by almost 8% in 2026 if the passenger cap was lifted from 32 million to 36 million as proposed in their rejected planning permission.

Credits: RTE

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