Legislation is being drafted by the Government to remove the passenger cap at Dublin Airport, the Taoiseach has said.
Speaking in China, Micheál Martin said the Government had made a "very clear decision to remove the cap".
"There is no question in my mind that that has to be delivered on."
Watch: Taoiseach says Government will remove Dublin Airport passenger cap
He told reporters legislation is being drafted right now and that "further work needs to be done with the planning authority".
The passenger cap at Dublin Airport is a long-running row with concerns vocalised regularly on both sides of the dispute.
The cap on passengers at Dublin Airport has been in place since 2007 to limit traffic congestion.
The Taoiseach said Dublin Airport is very significant to the national economy and that connectivity is extremely important to our island nation.
He said the origins of the passenger cap, which was introduced in 2007 and limited the number of passengers passing through the airport's two terminals at 32 million a year, belonged to a "different era, a different set of circumstances".
The Department of Transport has said the Irish Government recognises the strategic importance of Dublin Airport as its "primary international gateway and the contribution it makes to our economy".
"As such, the Programme for Government includes a clear commitment to working with stakeholders to achieve the objective of lifting the passenger cap at Dublin Airport and the Minister for Transport has already secured government support to pursue a legislative course of action to address the passenger cap in line with that commitment," it said in a statement.
The Department said work is progressing at pace on the preparation of legislation to address the passenger cap, and the Minister intends to bring Heads of a Bill to Government shortly to seek agreement on the proposed legislative approach and to progress to formal drafting.
"The Minister is committed to introducing the legislation as soon as possible to ensure continued sustainable growth in connectivity.
"To facilitate growth at Dublin Airport, planning permission is also required to develop infrastructure capacity at the airport.
"Therefore, in parallel with the legislation being progressed by the Minister for Transport, daa, as the airport operator, is progressing a planning application which seeks to build additional infrastructure, including new piers and aircraft stands, to facilitate airport growth," the statement said.
"It is worth noting that the Irish High Court has placed a stay on consideration of the passenger cap as a relevant constraint under the EU Slot Regulation for the purpose of slot allocation at Dublin Airport while the Court of Justice of the European Union considers the matter," it added.
"Therefore, the passenger cap currently has no effect on the allocation of slots at Dublin Airport."
Green Party 'very concerned' about Government's plans
Ciarán Cuffe, co-chair of the European Green Party, said the Greens are "very concerned" about the Government's plans to remove the passenger cap for Dublin Airport.
Speaking on RTÉ's Drivetime, he said: "We feel it will add to the traffic chaos that we're already seeing on the M50 and on roads all around north Dublin.
"But we also feel there'd be a big increase in the amount of noise that these flights will generate, particularly early morning aircraft, taking off or landing."
"And there will be a big increase in noise exposure from aircraft, not just in Portmarnock or Swords or St Margaret's, but all over the city," he added.
Mr Cuffe also said "the real impact on our greenhouse gas emissions will be significant."
"Eight million flights represent a huge increase in greenhouse gas emissions and at a time when we're encouraging farmers to think about carbon, to avoid increasing the herd size, it seems rather odd to say it's open season for air travel," he said.
He said he rejects the argument that lifting the passenger is essential for the economy, because Ireland already has a "significant amount of air travel and I don't think a 25% increase is appropriate".
Meanwhile, Chief Executive of the Irish Hotels Federation, Paul Gallagher said he would welcome the removal of the airport's passenger cap.
On noise exposure, he said that aircraft have "much quieter and much more efficient engines" and as soon as older fleets are replaced, this will assist noise reduction.
He said that as an island nation, Ireland needs aviation connectivity with other countries.
