There is no magic wand to the problem of Dublin airport’s passenger cap, Junior Minister James Lawless has said.
Mr Lawless was responding to Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary’s claim that the Minister for Transport has the legal authority to direct the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) to alter the passenger cap under Section 10 of the Aviation Regulation Act 2001, backed by legal advice from a senior barrister.
Mr Lawless expressed skepticism about O’Leary’s legal interpretation, suggesting that while a direction to the IAA might be theoretically possible, it would not be advisable or practical for the Minister to instruct the agency to disregard the law.
The response highlights that such a suggestion to ignore legal obligations is considered unserious and problematic for a state agency.
He said directing the IAA to ignore the law would not resolve existing issues related to the DAA’s planning permissions in relation to exceeding the passenger cap.
Mr Lawless said: even if that letter were legally possible, now my view and the advice I’ve been given is that it’s not a runner, frankly, but even if it was, it doesn’t change the core position. Just because the IAA may be directed to ignore the law, I don’t think that’s a good idea for any minister or state actor to say to another state agency, just ignore the law lads, belt on lads, you’re fine. I think that’s an unserious suggestion. But even if that was done, it doesn’t change the issue that the DAA aren’t breached of planning permission if they go over the cap. So telling the regulator to ignore it is not a runner.
I’m engaging with stakeholders at the moment to establish whether there were any quick fixes to this. The advice was that there wasn’t.
I’m taking detailed legal advice as this goes on. I am taking advice on Michael Leary’s suggestion. I think that it doesn’t change anything.
Even if that letter was sent, the Dublin Airport Authority is still in breach of planning permission. So just because Michael Leary thinks we can tell the regulator to ignore the law, the Dublin Airport Authority still has to obey the law. The airlines still have to obey the law.
Fingal County Council has to obey the law. Onboard Planal has to obey the law. So this kind of magic wand that Michael Leary wishes to wave, you know, it would be far more productive to get around the table like adults and say, how can we constructively engage in this?”
