Revealed: This is how much the DAA spent on failed planning applications
Until this week, the semi-state body had repeatedly insisted that making this information public would jeopardise its commercial viability.
However, the multi-million-euro costs were finally disclosed by the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) following the intervention of the Office of the Commissioner for Environmental Information. The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) has been forced to admit that it has spent almost €7 million on planning applications that have become mired in controversy. Pic: Getty Images
Extra.ie first sought this information last January when – much to the embarrassment of officials at the State firm – Fingal County Council dismissed a planning application for the authority's most high-profile venture as invalid.
The rebuff followed a series of refusals by the local authority to grant planning permission for several proposed projects, including the building of a 950-space staff car park and an observation platform for plane spotters, to replace the ad hoc lay-by along the side of the airport.
In a scathing statement issued at the time, Fingal County Council officials said of the planning application to increase passenger numbers at the capital's airport: 'The Planning Authority has informed the DAA that their application to raise the capacity of Dublin Airport to 36million passengers per annum is invalid.' Fingal County Council dismissed a planning application for the authority's most high-profile venture as invalid. Pic: Shutterstock
The application was said to have failed to comply with several articles of the Planning and Development regulations. It was also deemed invalid because the description of the development was 'inadequate and misleading.'
The local authority noted: 'Pre-planning is available to assist applicants, but did not take place for this application.' This prompted a furious response from the DAA, whose chief executive, Kenny Jacobs, accused the local authority of 'flip-flopping'.
Meanwhile, when asked at the time how much it had spent on planning and environmental consultants involved in planning applications, the State company told Extra.ie that this information could not be released for 'commercial reasons'. More recently, the DAA refused to release information about these payments when Extra.ie requested an internal review. Pic: Getty Images
Extra.ie then sought details about these payments under the EU Access to Information on the Environment legislation. But the DAA again refused to release the data, claiming the 'disclosure of this information could significantly harm its competitive position'.
More recently, the DAA refused to release information about these payments when an internal review was requested by Extra.ie. It was only when Extra.ie lodged an appeal with the Office of the Commissioner for Environmental Information that the authority finally released the information.
In a one-page document sent late on Wednesday, the DAA disclosed that between March 2023 and February of this year, the DAA made 43 payments totalling €6.7 million to planning and environmental consultants.
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