“The 32 million cap is not a cap on the whole airport, rather on terminal one and terminal two,” he told the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport this week. The most viable solution left is the Government’s proposed Dublin Airport (Passenger Capacity) Bill 2026, giving Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien the power to revoke or amend the cap, if the Oireachtas passes the legislation. Once the High Court stalled its implementation by ordering the IAA not to take the cap into account, fares stopped rising and flights increased. Chris Sununu, its chief executive, told the committee that a failure to axe the cap could result in the loss of Irish flights to the US. He argued that the agreement was “country to country” not “airport to airport”.

Source: The Irish Times March 27, 2026 09:01 UTC