Ireland aims to pass law lifting Dublin Airport cap by summer

Fri, 22nd May 2026 15:09

* Transport minister had previously given end of year deadline

* Ryanair says would remove ⁠capacity threats but urges faster action

* U.S. airlines have warned of retaliation from Washington (Adds response from Ryanair CEO in paragraphs 8-10)

BRUSSELS/DUBLIN, May 22 (Reuters) - The Irish government plans to ‌enact a law by mid-July to lift a cap on passenger numbers at Dublin Airport, which has come under fire ⁠from European and U.S. airlines, the country's transport minister said on Friday.

The ⁠government is racing to lift the 32 million passenger-per-year cap, which is currently suspended pending a European Court ruling. The airport overshot the limit by 4 million passengers last year.

"It's my intention, if we can at all, with a fair wind, to get the legislation passed through the ‌Dail (lower house of parliament) and Seanad (upper house) by the summer recess, which is the middle of July," Ireland's transport, energy and climate minister Darragh O'Brien told Reuters in an interview. "If it's not that, it will be early September," he added.

O'Brien had previously only committed to enacting the legislation by the end of this year. The number of passengers at Ireland's main airport was capped at 32 million by planners in 2007, in part to ‌avoid local road congestion.

Some local residents support capping passenger numbers at the airport, which carries around 80% of the country's air traffic. Environment groups have warned its removal ‌would weaken oversight of a high-emission sector. But the measure has been opposed by Irish airline bosses, who warn it would damage the country's economy.

U.S. airlines have also opposed the cap, prompting their representative body and Irish carriers to warn that the U.S. government could retaliate and restrict transatlantic flights from Dublin if the cap is not quickly scrapped.

Ryanair boss ‌Michael O'Leary told Reuters in response to O'Brien's timetable that it would remove the threat hanging over the industry that they would be forced by regulators to slash their capacity next summer to meet the cap.

However, he repeated calls ⁠for O'Brien ⁠to move faster.

"If they don't get it passed by the end ‌of June, I think there is a real likelihood that the Americans will take some action," he said. O'Brien said the U.S. government was satisfied with the timeline he had laid out. European airlines have warned they could face jet fuel shortages within ‌weeks as a result of supply disruptions triggered by the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. Ireland is not facing imminent supply shortages, and the government's analysis foresees no fuel supply shortages for the rest of this year, O'Brien said. (Reporting by Kate Abnett and Padraic Halpin; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Louise Heavens)