A county council asked the authority responsible for running Dublin Airport to stop “lampooning” them in public and “lashing out” in a bitter dispute over a controversial passenger cap.
In private discussions, Fingal County Council said they had been asked many times to speak publicly about the airport cap but had instead always “kept [their] counsel.”
However, they said it was time for the daa to “dial down” rhetoric on the subject and work together for a solution.
An email from Fingal’s head of communications said: “It may be the daa’s objective to have Dublin Airport classified as strategic national infrastructure, but that’s not how it is right now and publicly lampooning the council and its staff to support the argument doesn’t help to foster good relations.”
His message, which was sent in mid-January, said that with a new government, the time could be right for all involved to start working together for a solution to the passenger cap controversy.
The email continued: “It would be much better if the public image is one of stakeholders working in partnership for the good of the country and its people rather than being at loggerheads and lashing each other in the media.”
Relations between Fingal County Council and the daa have soured over the 32 million passenger cap that is currently in place at the airport.
The cap was put in place as part of planning permission for a second terminal but management at Dublin Airport and major airlines want it increased dramatically.
Late last year, the daa submitted a planning application to have the cap raised to 36 million but Fingal County Council deemed it invalid in January.
Records released under FOI by the local authority show how communications staff at Dublin Airport only became aware the application was rejected as the council made their decision public.
An email from the daa said: “It would have been helpful and appreciated by the comms [communications] team to receive the statement ahead of or at least at the same time as the media as we received a lot of queries shortly afterwards.”
The request from Fingal County Council for the cap to be dealt with in a more “proper business-like manner” has not eased frostiness between the two.
In an email in late January, a senior council official said it was “regrettable” that the daa had not looked for a pre-planning meeting before submitting their invalid application.
A message from a daa staff member on January 23 said the “critical nature of this application speaks for itself” and said it was a shame there was no fast-track process for applications from Dublin Airport.
The message said: “While the re-submission should not be taken as an acceptance of [the council’s] views, daa’s main purpose is to progress this application as quickly as possible to lift this passenger cap which is no longer appropriate or necessary.”
In response, Fingal County Council’s director of services Matthew McAleese wrote of being “bemused” by an offer from the daa to make themselves available for a meeting.
He wrote: “You speak of the critical nature of this application in terms of the key needs of the economy, of the travelling public and of the airlines, yet the daa chose not to have pre-planning with [us] prior to lodging in December.
“You speak of the lack of a fast-track planning process. However, by not proceeding with pre-planning you are failing to avail of any opportunity to identify issues and offer advice in advance of the application being lodged.”