“I want us to take the airport off the front page” – The Irish Times

Speaking quietly in a city office building, DAA chairman Basil Geoghegan admits the airport operator is faced with “a significant amount of treacle that we have to get through.” But he also argues for eliminating drama from the operation of Ireland’s main aviation hub.

“I would like us to take the airport off the headlines and just make it a straightforward utility that provides a good service at a good price and is able to pay nice dividends back to the state to invest in others “You can invest in parts,” he says.

No chance. DAA has always been one of the most politicized parastatals and is at war over a cap of 32 million passengers per year, which will be exceeded in the coming weeks. Geoghegan said Dublin Airport could accommodate up to 36 million passengers without radical infrastructure changes, but there was no wiggle room.

“There will be a situation where we are not compliant,” he adds.

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Geoghegan, a former Goldman Sachs banker, is now a partner at US bank PJT Partners. He was previously on the board of the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) and also advised Bertie Ahern’s government on the IPO of Aer Lingus in 2006. He was appointed DAA chairman in 2018 by then transport minister Shane Ross and was reappointed in 2021 by current minister Eamon Ryan .

Does Ryan recognize the urgency of the issues facing the DAA? “I think everyone sees the urgency of the situation. But I’m not sure many are willing to take action to improve the urgency of the situation,” says Geoghegan.

“It’s too easy to personify these things. I think I have a pretty good relationship with Minister Ryan. I have great respect for him. But there is an organization that has been around for a long time. Everyone has to work together to solve things. That should be the great thing about being a small country – I think that’s just missing at the moment.”

Asked whether the initiative to resolve the cap dispute might come from higher up in government, he pointed to the possibility that US airlines could challenge Irish flight restrictions. It’s about the EU-US Open Skies Agreement, which opens all transatlantic routes to American and EU airlines.

“Ultimately I think the potential conflict with European laws and Open Skies – and the importance of that [foreign direct investment] to Ireland and the fact that we are an island will mean that this will be high on the agenda. I just wish it had been like this sooner, but not for lack of trying.”

The cap has already put the DAA at odds with the government, regulators and airlines, at the same time as it tries to push ahead with a huge planning application from Fingal County Council that would increase annual capacity to 40 million. With Fingal far from reaching a decision, the dispute is destined for the Supreme Court as the DAA and airlines challenge the IAA’s landing slot cuts.

As if that wasn’t enough, Tourism Minister Catherine Martin has practically blamed the daa for not submitting its application from last December to Fingal earlier.

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Geoghegan says it’s not that simple, pointing out that the DAA first requested an increase in the cap in 2019, but this was stalled by delays in noise regulation, which have not yet been finally resolved by An Bord Pleanála. A recent draft decision by the Planning Appeals Board to restrict night flights was criticized by the DAA as a “step backwards”.

“It’s not our fault that we applied on time because we applied five years ago,” he says. “The reason we applied five years ago and it wasn’t possible was because of decisions that were made before that.”

A key decision was the fact that Dublin Airport was no longer classified as strategic infrastructure, meaning the DAA could not bypass Fingal and fly directly to An Bord Pleanála. The company called on ministers to reclassify the airport as strategic infrastructure in new planning laws, but was rejected. Geoghegan sees this as a missed opportunity. “We have the same planning powers as you when extending your home.”

Another point of friction was the delayed establishment of the Aircraft Noise Competent Authority, an independent regulator within Fingal County Council, which was originally intended to be part of the IAA.

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“All of these things have consequences – and there are consequences when you make mediocre decisions as opposed to really good decisions.” But unfortunately in the world of infrastructure, sometimes you don’t realize those consequences until after the fact,” he says.

So is Catherine Martin wrong when she says it’s the DAA’s fault that she didn’t apply sooner?

“Mistakes are something people can have their own opinions about,” says Geoghegan. “But I will tell you that we applied for this five years ago. But we were applying in a system that was already very complicated, and probably far more complicated than even the architects of the system thought at the time.”