FINGAL COUNTY COUNCIL has refused planning permission to the operator of Dublin airport for a planned expansion of the US Customs Pre-Clearance and Border Protection (CBP) facility.

Airport operator, daa, May lodged the plans in May to deal with “chronic congestion” at the CBP facility and in response to the growing numbers of transatlantic passengers using Dublin airport.

The airport authority projects that 1.7 million passengers are to use the CBP facility in 2023, a 13% increase on last year.

However, the Council has refused planning permission to daa for the expanded CBP after finding that the proposal would be premature pending the determination by the road authority of the detailed road network to serve the area.

The Council found that the plan to expand further the US CBP contravened objectives of the Fingal Development Plan 2023-2029, which seek to provide balanced road infrastructure to manage traffic and to cater for the comprehensive development of the airport and facilitate the on-going augmentation and reconfiguration of existing terminal facilities at Dublin airport.

The Council has issued the refusal after its 63 page planner’s report concluded that the proposed development would enable for a passenger capacity increase which would in turn result in a material intensification of the use of the terminal facility.

The planner’s report stated if the scheme was permitted, the capacity increase and intensification would in turn have implications for the existing transportation capacity constraints at the airport’s eastern campus.

Daa now has the option of appealing the decision to An Bord Pleanala. A spokesman for daa said today that it “is disappointed by the decision and will now take time to review it in detail and consider our next steps”.

The decision by the Council is a blow to daa’s €1.9 billion Capital Investment Plan.

A consultant’s report lodged by daa outlined the present capacity difficulties the existing CBP presents.

A Coakley O’Neill report told the Council that the CBP overflow queuing system was required to be used five out of every seven days in the Summer of 2022 and is projected to be required even more this Summer.

They state that the overflow queuing system “is technically and logistically complex and cumbersome”.

Coakley O’Neill stated that “is is therefore the case that the current CBP facility does not have the capacity to cater for the existing passengers”.

Coakley O’Neill state that the proposed development “is undeniably needed to ensure the efficient, comfortable and safe operation of the CBP facility at Dublin airport”.

However, the sole objector to the proposal, the Irish Air Line Pilots Association (IALPA) stated that existing CBP facilities at Dublin airport are “more than sufficient” for the airport’s annual 32 million passenger per annum cap.

Questioning the need for the expanded CBP facility in a submission to Fingal County Council, Director of Safety & Technical at IALPA, David Morrissey said that IALPA has demonstrated that the current US CBP facility “no longer suffers from congestion issues”.

Morrissey states that new procedures introduced for managing the queues in April 2023 “has resulted in no overflow queuing within Pier 4 and that the historical queues and congestion have been eliminated”.

The CBP facilities at Dublin and Shannon airports allow US bound passengers to undertake all US immigration, customs and agriculture inspections at the airports prior to departure.

The CBP facilities at Dublin and Shannon airports gives the airports a competitive advantage over most other airports operating services to the US as passengers who clear pre-clearance at Dublin and Shannon airports are treated as domestic arrivals on arrival in the US, allowing them to avoid immigration queues upon arrival and pick up their bags and go.