The European Commission has ruled that An Coimisiún Pleanála's proposal to manage night-time flights at Dublin Airport through a noise quota does not conform with EU regulations.
In July 2025, the planning authority applied a restriction setting an annual limit of 35,672 aircraft movements between 11pm and 7am, an average of 98 flights a night.
It also included a ban on flights taking off or landing on the second runway, known as the north runway, between 11pm and 7am, except in exceptional specified circumstances.
In a decision published on 10 February, the European Commission said the process for introducing the operating restrictions at the airport "is not in conformity with Regulation (EU) 598/2014".
The Commission said the relevant Irish authorities should examine the decision and "inform the Commission of their intentions before introducing the operating restrictions".
It concluded that measures other than operating restrictions were not considered.
"The operating restrictions at Dublin Airport, which Ireland intends to introduce and which it notified on 8 August 2025, do not fully follow the process set out in Regulation (EU) 598/2014, insofar as Ireland has not considered other measures than operating restrictions in accordance with Article 5(3) of that Regulation."
An Coimisiún Pleanála said it will now "examine the EU Commission notification".
In a statement, ACP said it will also "consider whether to reopen the process and if so, at which point to reopen the process".
"An Coimisiún Pleanála will notify the public and the parties to the decision on the conclusion of this consideration."
The Department of Transport said the European Commission decision "does not impact the current operating hours at Dublin Airport, as the operating restrictions proposed in ACP’s July 2025 are not yet introduced".
"An Coimisiún Pleanála, as the independent competent authority, will now examine the EU Commission decision, consider appropriate next steps, and inform the EU Commission of their intentions before any operating restrictions can be implemented."
The Minister for Transport, Darragh O’Brien, said he notes the decision.
"In line with the provisions of 2019 Aircraft Noise Act, as the independent competent authority for this matter, An Coimisiún Pleanála will now be given time to examine this Decision, and to determine the most appropriate next steps," he added.
Ryanair has welcomed what it described as the "EU Commission confirmation that the night-time movement cap proposed by An Coimisúin Pleanála for Dublin Airport breaches EU law".
In a statement, the airline said: "This illegal night-time cap, along with the artificial 32 million passenger cap applied by the same planning body almost 20 years ago, confirm the urgency of Micheál Martin’s Government finally passing legislation by St Patrick’s Day to abolish artificial caps on the primary airport on the island of Ireland".
The Group Chief Executive of Ryanair said the EU Commission has "embarrassingly" moved before the government "to find An Coimisúin Pleanála’s night-time cap to be in breach of EU law".
Michael O’Leary renewed his call on the Taoiseach Micheál Martin to "do something to stop these artificial caps being applied by local planning bodies by passing legislation before St Patrick’s Day to scrap caps at Dublin Airport for the benefit of jobs, our tourism industry and our economy".
