The legislation to remove Dublin Airport’s 32-million passenger cap is expected to be in place before the end of the year, according to Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien.
The Cabinet on Tuesday approved the priority drafting of the Dublin Airport (Passenger Capacity) Bill 2026.
O’Brien said before the Cabinet meeting he will ask the Oireachtas Committee on Transport to expedite pre-legislative scrutiny as part of efforts to fast-track the Bill.
Removal of the cap would pave the way for as many as 40 million passengers to pass through Dublin Airport’s two terminals in 2026.
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The cap has been in place for almost two decades, having originally been introduced in 2007 over concerns about traffic congestion, among other issues.
However, in recent years, the threshold has been breached. More than 36 million passengers passed through the airport in 2025, setting a record.
An advocate general of the Court of Justice of the European Union is due to give an opinion in February on whether the slot limits imposed at the airport arising out of the passenger cap are in keeping with European Union laws.
Speaking in advance of Cabinet, O’Brien said: “The cap is obviously stayed at the moment because of the CJEU case but that won’t always be the case.
“We don’t know how they’re going to rule on that and I want this legislation through as quickly as we can. Certainly by the end of the year if not before that.”
He told reporters there will be three principles enshrined in the proposed legislation.
The first is the power to amend an existing cap, the second is the power to revoke a cap and the third is to preclude any imposition of a cap based on any future application.
O’Brien added: “We’ll also be looking at where airport infrastructure goes into the future. I don’t believe even for all the good work that Fingal County Council have done that a future national infrastructure as critical as Dublin Airport should sit within the planning authority of the local authority.”
He said he wanted to assure nearby residents affected by the airport they are “to the forefront of my mind”.
“I’ve grown up beside the airport. I know hundreds of people, thousands of people employed in the airport. It’s a critical employer. It’s a critical piece of infrastructure for connectivity, obviously for foreign direct investment, and we can’t have a situation whereby there is a false inhibitor to growth in place any more.”
O’Brien said the draft scheme of the legislation would be published after Cabinet approval and “then subject to some minor amendments we’ll bring it into the Oireachtas.
“I do intend to do pre-legislative scrutiny and get the committee to look at it but I would ask that that be done on an expedited basis.”
