Ryanair blasts Ireland’s government for ‘doing nothing’ to scrap passenger cap at Dublin Airport

Ryanair has once again issued a fiery statement, blasting the Irish government, including the Prime Minister (Taoiseach) of Ireland, Micheál Martin, for doing nothing to keep its promise to scrap the 32 million passenger cap at Dublin Airport (DUB) as soon as possible.

On January 5, 2026, Ryanair, which nicknamed Martin 'Marco Polo,' urged the politician to “stop wasting time getting his photo taken, and instead deliver on his year-old Govt Programme, which promised to scrap the [DUB] cap ‘as soon as possible’.”

“This week, Micheál ‘Marco Polo’ Martin is ‘on tour’ again. This is a man with more overseas engagements than Elton John.”

The low-cost carrier said that if Martin was serious about creating jobs in Ireland, he would scrap the passenger cap at DUB, which would “deliver thousands of new jobs, while his overseas tours to China and Angola deliver none.”

According to Ryanair, a paper was brought to the Cabinet in September 2025, “and still nothing has happened in the subsequent 5 months,” with January marking a year since Martin’s program for government, and despite a majority in the country’s legislature (Oireachtas), “no action has been taken to scrap the” cap at DUB.

Michael O’Leary, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ryanair, added that Martin’s “overseas tours” only deliver more photos of the Irish prime minister “glad-handing world leaders, while nothing is done at home about real job creation, despite his [government’s] 20-seat majority.”

“It’s time for Micheál Martin to stop touring and start delivering, and a good place to start would be scrapping the illegal Dublin Airport cap before the end of January 2026.”

O’Leary concluded that the removal of the 32 million passenger limit at DUB would enable airlines, including Ryanair and United States-based carriers, to add new routes and additional flights, resulting in additional jobs for the upcoming summer 2026 season. “[…] this might open up even more overseas travel opportunities for ‘Marco Polo’ Martin.”

When DUB unveiled its latest passenger numbers for October 2025, the airport said that the month was the seventh consecutive month of growth, with DUB having already almost reached the 32 million traveler limit with 31.1 million passengers during the first 10 months of 2025.

Kenny Jacobs, the CEO of daa, the company managing DUB and Cork Airport (ORK), pointed out that the Irish capital’s airport had been “on track to break through the 32 million level in the early part of next week,” despite the fact that there had been “seven weeks of the year still remaining.”

DUB noted that in April 2025, the Irish High Court “imposed a stay on the Irish aviation regulator requiring it to not take account of the 32 million cap when deciding on slots available to airlines, while it awaits a ruling from Europe regarding whether the cap can be considered by the regulator when assigning slots.”

The 32 million passenger cap at DUB has been in place since 2008, when the Fingal County Council approved the construction of Terminal 2 and the expansion of Terminal 1 at DUB. The conditions of the approval outlined that “the combined capacity of both terminals must not exceed 32 million passengers per annum.”

(Terminal 1’s expansion was approved in January 2008, while the construction of Terminal 2 was approved in August 2007.)

On June 20, 2025, the Council’s Planning Authority’s Enforcement Unit “initiated a formal investigation to assess compliance with the” cap since it was violated in 2023 and 2024, and, considering the passenger numbers in October 2025, it was most likely also violated in 2025.

“daa has been given two years to bring its operations into compliance.”

Even before the Fingal County Council warned the daa about its failure to comply with the cap, as mentioned above, the Irish High Court imposed a stay order, enabling the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) to allocate slots that would, effectively, result in the airport going over the cap.

During the winter 2025/2026 season, the IAA’s hourly runway limits at DUB have allowed for a maximum of 607 and 625 arrivals and departures, respectively, while during the upcoming summer 2026 season, the limits are 624 (arrivals) and 663 (departures).

Summer 2025 season’s runway limits were 616 arrivals and 655 departures, respectively.

“We have not included any seasonal seat cap coordination parameter (or otherwise taken account of the [32 million passenger cap]), in line with the High Court Order of 15 April 2025,” the IAA said in its report about the summer 2026 season coordination parameters decision.

However, to make matters worse for airlines flying from/to DUB, in July 2025, An Coimisiún Pleanála (ACP), “the national independent statutory body to determine appeals on planning and other cases as well as direct applications for strategic infrastructure and other developments,” capped the number of flights between 23:00 and 07:00 to 16,260 per year.

In September 2025, Ryanair said that it applied for a High Court judicial review of the limit, which it called “an illegal second […] cap at Dublin Airport.”

“This unlawful cap, which artificially limits night movements, will block early morning (pre-7 am) arrivals, which are vital for transatlantic landings between 05:00 and 07:00, and will delay much-needed investment and growth at Dublin Airport.”

Meanwhile, the daa said that while it had been reviewing the details of the ACP’s decision, it welcomed it, especially since DUB’s North Runway would now be open “between 6 am and midnight, which is two hours longer than previously,” unlocking more efficient utilization of the runway.