Transport Minister Darragh O’Brien has announced that the abolition of the controversial 32 million people passenger cap at Dublin Airport will go to Cabinet on Tuesday.

Transport Minister Darragh O’Brien has announced that the abolition of the passenger cap at Dublin Airport will go to Cabinet on Tuesday. 

The passenger cap currently limits the number of passengers passing through Dublin Airport to 32 million. The ban would ban the creation of any future caps and should be passed by the end of the year. 

Emmet Oliver was joined on Sunday by John Cunningham, Market Insights Director of BAM Ireland, Fergus Finlay, Columnist with The Examiner, podcaster and former CEO of Bernardos and Deputy Leader of the Green Party, Hazel Chu to discuss the viability of the ban. 

Airplane landing on the runway at Dublin Airport Ireland. 

Mr Cunningham said he felt like the decision to remove the cap would “allow Dublin to thrive and is fundamentally a good idea.”

“This country needs Dublin airport to function at this level. It’s a chance to relook at Dublin, Shannon, Cork, Waterford and other airports. And what we could do to spread the traffic. 

“As an island nation, we need access on and off the island.”

He noted that Ireland needs to be mindful of its foreign direct investment and the risk of American airlines threatening to not come to Dublin and Ireland because the cap is a real one with potentially serious consequences. 

“The bottom line is, if there are five or six million more people who want to transact in and out of Ireland and they can't get in, that's a problem,” he told Emmet Oliver. 

“In the world at the moment, I believe that Ireland's fantastic position as punching above our weight is diminishing all the time. If we end up having policies where we're preventing access on and off the island, it's not good for anybody.”

Hazel Chu, Deputy Leader of the Green Party openly opposed the lift of the ban saying that stronger incentives for inland tourism would be preferable. 

Tourists taking a picture in front of the Guinness Brewery. 

“The bulk of the increase in passenger numbers is Irish people travelling abroad for leisure. 

“Keep the leisure here. Our economy, our tourism in Ireland does need our Irish economy, Irish tourists. “You can still go abroad. But why incentivize people to leave the Irish economy? Why not try to incentivize them to stay here, to have their trips here?”

Fergus Finlay, columnist with The Examiner, podcaster and former CEO of Bernardos told Emmet Oliver that concerns about the environmental damage caused by high air traffic seemed to have “fallen right down the agenda.”

“We're all going to regret that in the future. We've taken our eye off that ball”, he told Newstalk. 

Despite these concerns he considered the decision to take the decisions about the cap away from Fingal is a good idea if it allows for the centralising of airport travel.

Main Image: Young boy waiting at the airport. Travelling Concept.