Planning delays have cost the DAA an estimated €500M over the last four years because of increasing construction costs as the airport operator awaits decisions for projects at Dublin Airport, according to CEO Kenny Jacobs.

Jacobs, speaking to the Irish Independent, attributed about €300M to inflationary costs associated with a €2.3B infrastructure plan being evaluated by Fingal County Council, which is expected to cost around €2.6B. Jacobs said additional planning delays have contributed more than €200M in extra costs for other projects.

Dublin Airport is subject to an annual cap of 32 million passengers under a planning condition attached in 2007 to the construction of Terminal 2, and Jacobs said he expects there to be legal challenges to whatever solution the government proposes in its efforts to lift the passenger cap.

However, this year Dublin Airport will handle about 36.3 million passengers, following a high court decision that paused the cap while matters related to allocating aircraft takeoff and landing slots are being assessed by the European Court of Justice. It is not likely to deliver a ruling on those matters until summer next year.

The cap has been a bone of contention amid objections over increased passenger numbers and flight volumes and times, while Dublin’s hotel industry is keen to see the rules relaxed to help boost the tourist industry.

Jacobs said he is confident the DAA is on firm legal ground but said that Dublin Airport is a “microcosm of what’s going on in Ireland.”

“We want more housing, we want more infrastructure, we want more electricity, we want more water, we want bigger airports, we want our economy to be able to grow,” he said. “These things which we can control have been holding us back.”

In a further blow to hopes of speeding up planning across the country, it has emerged that just 15% of the new planners sought by city and county managers two years ago to accelerate new housing delivery have been recruited.

During parliamentary debates on planning legislation in 2023, the body representing city and county managers said that local authorities needed 541 additional planners to keep up with existing demand under the new Planning and Development Act.

The Department of Housing initially sanctioned 101 roles, of which 86 have been filled, with a further 112 sanctioned in January this year, none of which have been filled.