Dublin Airport 'baffled' by council's rejection of passenger cap increase
Vivienne Clarke
The operator of Dublin Airport has said it is "baffled and bewildered" by Fingal County Council's decision to reject a bid to increase the passenger cap at the transport hub.
The DAA had applied to expand the cap from 32 to 36 million, after it broke the limit by 1 million passengers last year.
Fingal County Council said the application was invalid because it failed to comply with planning and development regulations.
Kenny Jacob, chief executive of DAA, described the decision as “bizarre”.
"What we find most bizarre about this flip-flop by Fingal Council planning department is that this is an operational application, this is not us building anything – this is a straightforward no-build application," he told RTÉ's Morning Ireland.
"[The council] validated it on December 23rd. We have that in writing from Fingal’s planning department. The second time they validated it was on January 6th, so they appear to be in some type of chaos," Mr Jacob said.
"This is the third piece of communication we've had on this same simple, straightforward, no build application. They're describing the reason as the description of the project being inadequate. Now, I don't quite get that myself because it's a very straightforward project. This just removes the 32 million cap at Dublin airport.
"So we're baffled by this. It's a flip flop. It's quite bizarre and it's not helpful, this situation."
Mr Jacob said the DAA believed the entire process should be faster and more consistent. He called on the new government to address such issues and make planning for critical infrastructure, such as airports, more efficient.
However, Fingal councillor Jimmy Guerin said the DAA behaved with "arrogance and incompetence" as senior management seemed "incapable of submitting a basic application".
Mr Guerin, an Independent councillor for the Howth-Malahide area, said he supported the proposed increase in the passenger cap but that the decision taken by Fingal County Council was the correct one.
"This is not a decision that Fingal necessarily wanted to take but is obliged to because of the basic rules that dictate planning applications," he said in a statement.
"Senior management within the DAA seem incapable of submitting a basic application to address the important passenger cap issue. Instead the DAA issue statements expressing shock at decisions and then misinform those affected by this issue so as to cover up their incompetence and basic misunderstanding of the planning process."
He added: "The number of problems with this current application suggests the DAA do not have the personnel with the skillsets required to ensure that planning applications are in line with both regulations and legislation.
"The application was declared invalid as it failed to comply with various articles of the planning regulations 2001. It is also invalid because the public notices are non-compliant and described by Fingal planners as inadequate and misleading."
