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Bureaucrats holding up second Dublin runway, says O’Leary

Ryanair boss says upgrade necessary to ensure country is ready for effects of Brexit

Michael O’Leary: says flights between the UK and Europe might stop for a period following the Brexit deadline. Photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Vivienne Clarke
Wed Jul 19 2017 - 11:56

Bureaucrats at the office of the Attorney General are holding up the building of a second runway at Dublin Airport, Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary has claimed.

“We need to kick on with a second runway and we’re being held up by a couple of bureaucrats in the Attorney General’s office who want to cross Ts and dot Is,” the chief executive said on Wednesday.

A statutory instrument is necessary for the project to progress and it is in the control of the Government and the Attorney General, said Mr O’Leary. Plans for the second runaway have been held up for 12 months, he added.

“If we want to get the economy ready for Brexit, we need a second runway. There is no explanation for the delays. We want an explanation why this matter is still in the Attorney General’s office,” he told RTÉ’s Today with Seán O’Rourke show.

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‘Capped out’

Mr O’Leary said Dublin airport is “capped out” at present with 30 million passengers per year. The figure could rise to 35 million or 40 million, but this will not happen until there is a second runway.

Take-off and landing slots in the mornings are full and the amount of taxiing is causing delays, he said. “The one runway is stuffed full.”

A second runway would mean extra flights and passengers – five to 10 million of them on Ryanair – which would mean 100,000 jobs, he said.

“This is being held up. It shouldn’t take 12 months to issue a statutory instrument.”

Mr O’Leary predicted that the UK is heading for a hard Brexit as the other 27 EU countries “are not minded to help the UK”.

He warned that the "lethargy" of the British could mean no flights between the UK and Europe for a period of time in 2019 following the Brexit deadline. Airlines in France and Germany "are licking their lips at the prospect".

Britain is muddling through Brexit, he said. The EU will ignore sectoral interests and will not facilitate an easy Brexit. “They want to see the British suffer.”

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