Car parking at Dublin Airport will get even more difficult in the next few weeks, travel expert Eoghan Corry has predicted. 

During the pandemic, Quick Park in nearby Santry shut due to lack of demand and failed to re-open after the end of international travel restrictions.

The car park has been put up for sale and Dublin Airport has offered to buy it but its application is being held up by what Eoghan Corry described as a “bureaucratic fuddle”.

In the meantime, the car park’s 6,000 car park spaces are lying idle and competition for Dublin Airport’s remaining slots will get even fiercer during the August holiday season.

“Car park booking has been possible,” Mr Corry told The Pat Kenny Show.

“People have been booking a week to 10 days out but what you’re running into is an increasing number of days are blocked out.

“[Now] you can’t book in advance and it’s a big deal then taking a chance of driving up to the airport, hoping that you’ll be able to pick up a ticket.”

Dublin Airport car park at sunset.

Mr Corry said prior to the car park’s closure people could count on getting “decent prices” but the lack of supply means there is no longer any incentives for other operators to keep their prices low.

“It’s not so much that the prices have gone up, it’s just that the special offers have,” Mr Corry said.

“You used to be able to go to a €7 a day car park and get it for €4.20 by booking in advance - all the little extra incentives that were there, people were good at gaming that system.

“It’s not possible to game it [anymore].”

The DAA’s bid to buy the disused car park is currently being examined by the Competition Authority.

Main image: Car park at Dublin Airport. Picture by: Alamy.com