DAA chief says airport planning delays adding 'tens of millions' to build costs

Kenny Jacobs says slow planning at Dublin hurting jobs, tourism, and the Irish economy

Dublin Airport Authority chief executive Kenny Jacobs said that delayed or overturned planning decisions for proposals for Dublin Airport “waste time and have so far added tens of millions of euro in unnecessary build costs”.

Planning delays at Dublin Airport have added "tens of millions" to build costs, DAA chief executive Kenny Jacobs has stated.

Mr Jacobs said that delayed or overturned planning decisions for proposals for Dublin Airport “waste time and have so far added tens of millions of euro in unnecessary build costs”. In a LinkedIn post on Wednesday, Mr Jacobs said that in relation to one Dublin Airport project, the expanded US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities, “the refusal by Fingal County Council, and the need to appeal to An Bord Pleanala, has cost us two years and added €5m in extra costs, delaying other projects”.

Mr Jacobs’s comments follow An Bord Pleanala on Tuesday giving the green light for the expansion of the US Customs Pre-Clearance and Border Protection facility, overturning a planning refusal by Fingal Co Council issued in July 2023. The council had refused planning permission after finding that the proposal would be premature pending a detailed road network to serve the area.

However, in granting permission, the appeals board recognised that the extension "would promote Dublin Airport's status as a secondary hub, improving international connectivity and competitiveness in line with local, regional and national policy".

DAA operates Dublin and Cork airports and in his Linkedin post, Mr Jacobs said: “My views on slow planning hurting Irish jobs, Irish tourism and the Irish economy are well known.

“We at DAA have a growing list of planning matters where we believe Fingal Co Council are getting got it wrong or taking too long such as the US CBP; demolition of the T1 car park spirals; public viewing area; 36m application RFI (a planning request for further information); staff car park upgrade and underpass restrictions etc.” 

 "DAA respect planning but these delayed or overturned decisions waste time and have so far added tens of millions of euro in unnecessary build costs. DAA want to get on with it, build, deliver, and make Dublin Airport a world class hub with better passenger services and new connectivity to South America, India, Asia, America and more. We need faster planning and better decisions that don’t waste time and just add cost.” 

Asked to respond to Mr Jacobs’s comments, a Council spokeswoman said: "Fingal County Council do not wish to comment at this time.”

However, only last week, Fingal County Council hit out at DAA sending a letter to the Council where it objected to elements of the Council’s request for further information (RFI) on its plan for its ‘no build’ application to increase the current airport annual passenger cap to 36m.

In a statement issued on April 29, the Council stated that it “views the approach taken in that letter as inappropriate and outside the bounds of the statutory planning process”. “Efforts to influence or alter the RFI through non-statutory correspondence raises serious concerns about procedural integrity and risks undermining confidence in the fairness of the process - particularly for third parties and members of the public who engaged with the application in good faith and in accordance with planning law.” d

DAA first lodged plans for the expanded CBP facility in May 2023 to deal with ‘chronic congestion' at the existing facility. The CBP facilities at Dublin and Shannon airports allow US-bound passengers to undertake all US immigration, customs and agriculture inspections at the airports prior to departure.