Moves to end the passenger cap at Dublin Airport highlight a “fundamental dishonesty” in how the Government is approaching its climate commitments, according to the Green Party, reports Breaking News.
Transport Minister Darragh O’Brien received Cabinet backing on Tuesday to begin drafting legislation that could lift or remove the controversial limit, reports Breaking News.
The 32 million passenger cap, a planning condition imposed by the local local authority, has been the subject of mounting legal and political debate.
Critics say retaining it could damage Ireland’s economy and international connectivity, while others argue it must remain in place as the State seeks to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, reports Breaking News.
Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary has accused Taoiseach Micheál Martin and the Government of failing to abolish the cap more than a year after taking office.
Mr O’Brien said the proposed legislation is a “very detailed” and “complex piece of work”, but added that he expects it to be brought before the Oireachtas “on an expedited basis”, reports Breaking News.
“There’s three principles that are enshrined in the legislation, and one is the power to amend the existing cap, the power to revoke a cap, but also, very importantly, looking into the future, to include any acquisition of a cap into the future based on any future application,” he said, reports Breaking News.
He said infrastructure as “critical” as Dublin Airport should not be regulated by a local authority and that the Government would seek to designate the airport as critical infrastructure, reports Breaking News.
Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman said the Government needs to be “honest” about the existence of “limits to growth in Dublin Airport”.
Mr O’Gorman, who previously sat in Cabinet alongside Mr O’Brien, said the current cap system is flawed because it treats “100 passengers on one 747 the exact same way as 100 different people taking 100 private airline flights”, reports Breaking News.
He said regulation of the airport should instead be based on carbon emissions and noise pollution.
“We need a system that regulates growth of Dublin Airport, looking at the challenges that it creates, the noise pollution for communities in the immediate area, and carbon emissions for the wider country.
“But this Government continues to kind of push this idea that there are no limits on anything, no limits on the growth of Dublin Airport, no limits on the number of new data centres we can put onto our grid, no limit to the number of new roads that we can build.
“And they’ve already almost joyously jettisoned our 2030 targets and any effort to actually meet those,” he said, reports Breaking News.
He added: “Ultimately, we’re all going to pay for this, because those 2030 targets, if they’re not met, there’s going to be very substantial fines that Ireland are going to have to pay,” reports Breaking News.
When asked whether environmental considerations had been sidelined, Business Minister Peter Burke said that was “absolutely not”.
“If you look at aviation, technology is moving fast, but it still has a journey to go,” he said, reports Breaking News.
“We’re an island economy, we’re not going to essentially push the airport into the abyss and have no more growth for our economy, no more growth for the tourism sector.
“So I think as an island economy, that’s very clear, air connectivity is pivotal to our success story as a country,” he said, reports Breaking News.
Asked whether he had spoken to Mr O’Leary on the issue, Mr Burke said he had not.
The move comes a month after Mr O’Leary accused the Government of doing “very little” on the passenger cap, housing and infrastructure during its first 13 months in office, reports Breaking News.
“It’s not like they’ve been busy passing other legislation last year,” Mr O’Leary said of the passenger cap at a high-profile Dublin press conference, reports Breaking News.
The Ryanair chief executive said the passenger cap should be abolished before St Patrick’s Day.
Tell us your thoughts in the Facebook post and share this with your friends.
