The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) has written to An Taoiseach, Simon Harris, on behalf of thousands of workers in the aviation sector, requesting an urgent review of the current passenger cap at Dublin Airport.

The cap was set at 32m passengers per year as a condition of the planning permission - awarded by Fingal County Council in 2007- for the construction of Dublin Airport’s Terminal 2. 

In a letter to An Taoiseach, ICTU general secretary Owen Reidy acknowledged the imposition of the cap in relation to “significant infrastructural deficits that existed at the time, particularly as regards access to Dublin Airport by car and public transport,” but warned that “wider policy objectives…are being impacted by the current restriction on passenger numbers.”

At the end of August, Dublin Airport passenger numbers are trending 5.5% ahead of 2023, and this trend is forecast to continue into September, according to the DAA, which means the current passenger cap is likely to be breached this year.

Higher passenger volumes have made the cap a hotter political topic this year, with several aviation stakeholders and business representatives actively lobbying for the cap to be lifted. 

The Government’s National Aviation Policy, Fingal Development Plan and Dublin Airport Local Area Plan all assume passenger growth for the Airport.  On this basis, Owen said, urgent action is required to address the passenger cap from a planning, policy and economic perspective. 

In his correspondence Owen said some airlines, and the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), have warned that if the cap is maintained at its current level it will result in the loss of hundreds of jobs in the aviation sector. He added that some airlines, who had planned to begin services to and from Dublin from next year, have postponed or cancelled their plans. 

He said ICTU is “seriously concerned” about the potential loss of jobs in the sector, and in related sectors such as hospitality. 

He said passengers transiting and transferring through Dublin Airport continue to be counted as part of determining the annual passenger figure: “Given the fact that these passengers do not actually leave Dublin Airport, it would seem to us that urgent consideration needs to be given to the appropriateness of this aspect of the passenger cap.”

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