![\"DAA](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/13c92711-ce0d-4be1-a898-94dc92cc8de4.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
DAA said its lounges in both Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 were \u201cconsistently full\u201d last year and passengers were regularly being turned away due to demand. Photo: John Mulligan<\/p>\n
Dublin Airport operator DAA has hit back at Ryanair boss Michael O\u2019Leary after he claimed passengers were being asked to pay for lounges and air bridges they \u201cdon\u2019t want\u201d, accusing the airline of spreading \u201cmisleading numbers and false claims\u201d.<\/p>\n
In its response issued after Mr O\u2019Leary\u2019s press conference yesterday, DAA said Ryanair\u2019s criticism of its \u20ac5.6bn expansion plans for Dublin Airport was \u201clittered with misleading numbers and false claims\u201d. DAA said Michael O\u2019Leary \u201cmight need a new calculator\u201d.<\/p>\n
The airport operator disputed Ryanair\u2019s claims that its proposed infrastructure projects would not support capacity growth, saying planned developments at Pier 5 and Pier 1 East would create room for an additional 10 million passengers a year.<\/p>\n
DAA also defended plans to increase passenger charges at Dublin Airport after Mr O\u2019Leary warned higher airport costs would eventually feed through into higher fares for travellers.<\/p>\n
The operator said the maximum charge it is currently allowed to levy is \u20ac10.40 per passenger which it noted has remained unchanged for 15 years despite inflation rising by more than 20pc during that time, it noted.<\/p>\n
DAA is seeking permission from the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) to increase average passenger charges to \u20ac13 between 2027 and 2031 to help fund future investment projects at the airport.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe passenger charge increases proposed by DAA would still leave Dublin Airport positioned amongst the cheapest airports in Europe,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
The airport operator also rejected Mr O\u2019Leary\u2019s criticism of spending linked to biodiversity and environmental mitigation works, after Ryanair claimed DAA was planning to spend millions on \u201cwildflowers\u201d.<\/p>\n
DAA said the spending related to mandatory habitat restoration and environmental mitigation measures required under Irish and EU planning legislation as the airport expands.<\/p>\n
The operator also defended its investment in airport lounges after Mr O\u2019Leary argued Ryanair passengers cared more about cheap fares and fast boarding than upgraded airport facilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeeing how busy our lounges are at Dublin Airport, we would suggest that Michael O\u2019Leary may be a little out of touch with what passengers want from an airport,\u201d DAA said.<\/p>\n
DAA said its lounges in both Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 were \u201cconsistently full\u201d last year and passengers were regularly being turned away due to demand.<\/p>\n
The airport operator added that revenue generated from lounges and other ancillary services helps keep airline fees lower, describing such income as \u201cvital\u201d to funding future investment projects and airport operations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DAA said its lounges in both Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 were \u201cconsistently full\u201d last year and passengers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486415,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,38997,18,19,17,6561,623],"class_list":["post-486414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-daa","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-rory-mcginn","tag-ryanair"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116579925746185812","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486414\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}