DAA v Ryanair: Airport operator says ‘we are not a county fair' in car park space row

The DAA, whose CEO is former Ryanair executive Kenny Jacobs, has pointed out it would require planning permission to provide additional parking infrastructure.

The DAA has been warning passengers for the past two weeks that demand for parking at the gateway is “extremely high”. It has urged travellers without an existing booking for a car space to consider using public transport or a taxi to travel to the airport for their flight.

A former Quickpark long-term parking facility beside the airport hasn’t been used since before Covid. It is almost 17 hectares (almost 42 acres) and has permission for 6,122 long-term car parking spaces as well as office space for staff.

In 2021, the courts determined that developer Gerry Gannon was entitled to a near €2.2m judgment against a company controlled by transport entrepreneur John O’Sullivan that operated the car park.

Mr Gannon subsequently put the site up for sale with a €70m price tag. Last autumn, he accepted an offer from the DAA. However, independent Senator Gerard Craughwell said in January he had referred the planned purchase by the DAA to the competition watchdog.

Ryanair, whose group chief executive is Michael O’Leary, claimed on Friday morning that the DAA was claiming its car parks are full “as a reason to pressure the Competition Authority to wave through approval of its monopoly grab for the Quickpark car park”.

“The DAA owns lots of land immediately surrounding Dublin Airport (such as the Dublin Airport driving range for example), which could be opened as a temporary car park at very short notice, releasing pressure on Dublin Airport car parking and more importantly keeping the cost of car parking low for customers,” it claimed.

But opening land for use as a car park requires planning permission and cannot be done arbitrarily.

“DAA refutes the simplistic view that we can simply open up fields at Dublin Airport this summer and conjure up additional car park spaces,” a spokesperson for the airport operator said on Friday.

They added: “Car parking requires infrastructure which requires planning permission. We are running the fifth-largest transatlantic hub airport in Europe, not a county fair.”

Ryanair has also said Transport Minister Eamonn Ryan should “instruct the DAA to withdraw its bid for the Quickpark car park to encourage other investors to introduce much-needed competition for car parking availability at Dublin Airport”.

“The DAA should stick to growing traffic at Dublin Airport, and reducing its expensive passenger fees,” claimed a Ryanair spokesperson.

The DAA says that its passenger charges are the lowest of any airport in a European capital.

“DAA is far from being a monopoly,” a spokesperson for the state-owned company said. “DAA does not set its own charges as we are a regulated business, unlike airlines who do set their own fares.”

“We leave airlines, including a world-class operator like Ryanair, to run their very profitable businesses while we continue to invest in vital strategic infrastructure to connect Ireland to the world,” they added.