McEvaddy group seeks permission for major Dublin Airport freight hub

Irish Independent

2 days ago

The application will mark the first substantial planning move that DA Terminal 3 Ltd – whose directors include brothers Ulick and Des McEvaddy – has made to start developing an agricultural site on which they have long aspired to also build a new passenger terminal for the now over-capacity airport.
Site notices have been posted for the application on part of the privately owned 260-acre landbank that sits right between the three active runways at Dublin Airport. The plan includes four major logistics units totalling close to half-a-million square feet, which together would be close to the size of Amazon's huge new distribution hub near Baldonnel.
The group is also seeking space for more than 360 car parking spaces on the site.
Seeking permission to build the four large cargo buildings marks a new step by the private landowners to extend Dublin Airport to the west.
The move by the landowners is understood to be seen as a potential first phase of a new western campus for Dublin Airport, to be linked to the nearby M2 motorway. This could include new car parks, hotels, other aviation related activities and, ultimately, a third terminal.
McEvaddy first announced his intentions to use the land to build a passenger terminal more than 25 years ago. But the plans have always faced opposition from DAA and rarely more than lukewarm political support. In 2023, despite having backing from a Dubai-based fund for the project, the land was placed on the market for sale. It appeared that the landowners had given up their bid and the land remains on the market, it is understood.
The landowners are understood to have had sporadic engagement with DAA about a potential sale of the landbank but failed to agree a price. McEvaddy was reported to have dismissed a bid by DAA to buy the land for €75m as 'derisory'.
Planning issues at Dublin Airport have proven tortuous in recent years with a controversial passenger cap included in the planning consent for Terminal 2 still limiting growth. DAA has submitted a major planning proposal to expand the airport from handling 32 million passengers per annum to 40 million per annum on the existing campus.
DAA CEO Kenny Jacobs told the Sunday Independent in a recent interview that he had discussed 'a couple of months ago' with McEvaddy a purchase of the strategic site by DAA.
'I haven't talked to him recently. I talked to him a couple of months ago. He wants to sell it at X price, we want to buy a part of it at Y price. So we'd be interested in a portion of the lands at the right price. I'm sure we'll talk again,' said Jacobs.