Ahead of Dáil vote on the Dublin Airport Passenger Capacity Bill, children’s rights and local community campaigners demand the Government allows due process to review evidence of serious harms that the Bill would inflict.
30th June 2026, In anticipation of today’s Dáíl vote on the Dublin Airport (Passenger Capacity) Bill, and as the death toll from extreme heat rises in Europe, Children’s Rights Over Flights (CROF) spoke out to condemn the Government’s recklessness in fast-tracking a Bill they say will lead to a major increase in “climate–wrecking” aviation pollution. They have joined with impacted communities and legal and policy experts, to highlight growing evidence of the multiple harms the Bill would cause – including for Ireland’s housing crisis, and call for an immediate pause to its rushed progression through the legislative process.
CROF spokesperson Celestine O’Reilly said, “This Bill has really serious negative implications for climate pollution from aviation. I find it very troubling the way it centralises power in the Minister for Transport and how it simply disapplies the Climate Act – as though the climate implications could be magically waved away. By ‘guillotining’ the Bill, it’s clear the Government wants to just ram it through, avoiding proper vetting that would no doubt result in significant, badly-needed amendments.”
Since 1990, while Ireland’s population has grown 44%, aviation emissions have risen 500%. It now represents around 10% of the country’s emissions according to Opportunity Green. The DAA’s planning documents show that raising the passenger cap from 32 to 40 million passengers annually would increase emissions by 22 per cent by 2031. However, the Passenger Cap Bill would allow for the cap to be abolished altogether and Darragh O’Brien, who is Minister for both Climate and Transport, has expressed hope that this would result in a 60 million annual passengers, meaning the emissions would likely be much higher.
In addition to irreversible climate harms, campaigners warn that community environmental harms, like increased health-harming noise pollution, have not been given due attention. Liam O’Gradaigh, a spokesperson for St Margarets the Ward – FORUM community group which represents Fingal and Meath residents under Dublin Airport flight paths, said, “We’re disappointed that the Minister is pushing ahead with the passenger cap legislation and has refused to meet with us. He has made repeated references to improved schemes for residents but nothing has materialised. Under the expansion plans more people will be exposed to the highest levels of nighttime noise which are detrimental to one’s health. This a pro-aviation bill with no regard for residents”.
Campaigners highlight that while American aviation lobbyists have been afforded generous access to the Minister for Transport, the evidence-based concerns of Irish citizens and communities have been outright ignored, including the rights and welfare of children and young people. CROF spokesperson and mother of a young child, Louise O’Leary said, “The day the Government approved this Bill, UNICEF published the Children’s Climate Risk Report 2026 showing virtually every child now faces at least one climate hazard threatening their health, development, and survival in some cases – as we see with the harrowing news of infants dying due to extreme heat in France. Instead of hearing from their Minister for Climate about these frightening realities, our children see him doggedly pursuing action to enable masses more aviation fossil fuel pollution. And to make things worse, the Minister responsible for climate action is trying to disapply his own climate obligations under our Climate Act. We want to remind him – his obligation, and the State’s obligation here, is to children – to prioritise their rights and welfare. Not to aviation lobbyists – whether Irish or American.”
Multiple organisations, health professionals, climate and legal experts, and impacted communities, have highlighted a range of serious harms which the Bill poses, as evidenced in the report on the pre-legislative scrutiny of the Bill. The campaigners say the State is wilfully ignoring these harmful implications including related economic costs and for the national housing crisis. New research from ‘Transport & Environment’ – Economics of air transport in Europe, shows Ireland faces the worst impacts for renters of any of the countries studied due to projected aviation growth. There is no evidence of evaluation of economic implications of outgoing tourism if the cap were removed. However, data for 2023 indicates Ireland has a major travel deficit by which 5.1 Billion Euro, equating to 1% of GDP, leave Ireland with Irish tourists flying abroad than is brought in by visitors.
Such detrimental consequences of the Bill for ordinary people have been called out by legal experts. Sorcha Tunney of Opportunity Green said, “This legislation removes an important safeguard without putting in place the protections that communities living around Dublin Airport urgently need. Increasing flights will inevitably intensify aircraft noise pollution and worsen air quality for thousands of residents, with serious consequences for their health and wellbeing. A recent ruling in the Netherlands found that the Dutch government acted unlawfully by failing to adequately protect residents living near Schiphol Airport from aircraft noise. That judgment should serve as a warning. The Government should not pursue growth in aviation at the expense of people’s rights.”
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Children's Rights Over Flights 
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