Competition concerns block Dublin Airport from using Gannon carpark for summer

The DAA, which operates Dublin Airport and Cork Airport, had originally intended to buy the former QuickPark carpark from developer Gerry Gannon for about €70m. The carpark can accommodate more than 6,100 vehicles and was the biggest carpark serving Dublin Airport before it closed a number of years ago. Mr Gannon put the carpark up for sale in 2022.

Carparking facilities at Dublin Airport are near capacity over the busy summer season, with passengers being advised to take public transport where possible, or to secure taxis and lifts from friends and relatives. The DAA operates 20,000 carpark spaces at Dublin Airport.

“We’d like more carpark spaces,” DAA chief executive Kenny Jacobs told the Joint Oireachtas Transport Committee on Wednesday. “Most of all, we’d like to buy the Quickpark site.”

But earlier this year, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) blocked the planned purchase of the carpark by the DAA.

The watchdog claimed that it had concerns that the sale to the airport operator would lead to higher prices and lower service quality for consumers.

“Since the CCPC decision, we have engaged with the owner of Quickpark – I’ve met with the owner myself – saying could we do a deal to operate it for two months,” Mr Jacobs told the committee.

“We were close to getting a deal done, but they’ve withdrawn from that process,” he added. “We wanted to be able to operate it and our understanding was legally we could on a short-term basis, just for July and August, and then we’d be gone in September.”

While the DAA secured legal advice that there should be no obstacle to doing so, it’s understood that CCPC indicated that even the temporary plan would be in contravention of competition rules.

Mr Jacobs aid it was a “shame” that it wasn’t able to buy the carpark.

“That would have given us an additional 6,000 spaces,” he said. “They’re also the best 6,000 spaces that exist. I think it was a great shame that last summer, we’d issues with carparking… and we weren’t able to operate those spaces.”

Mr Jacobs told the committee that Mr Gannon is still actively looking to sell the site.

“I hope they do, because there’s nothing worse than looking out and hearing about people being anxious about carparking and then you see tumbleweed going across 6,000 spaces,” he said.

Carparking fills up quickly at Dublin Airport during the summer, but Mr Jacobs insisted passengers can still secure long-term spaces while they travel away on holidays.

“If you want to get a short-term carparking space this weekend, we’re sold out,” he told the committee. “But if you’re going away on the classic one-week or two-week holiday and you want to get a long-term car park space, go on the website and you’ll be able to book and you’ll be able to find one.”

Mr Jacobs warned that Dublin Airport remains in danger of breaching its 32 million annual passenger cap this year despite its best efforts to ensure it doesn’t happen.

He said that the passenger cap is “blunt and out of date”.