The Ryanair CEO has said he is confident the Dublin Airport passenger cap "will get lifted" as it goes to court.
Ryanair is taking legal action against the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) on the Dublin Airport passenger cap along with Aer Lingus and a number of US carriers.
The IAA has limited available slots at Dublin Airport in a bid to prevent it from exceeding a 32 million passenger cap.
Mr O'Leary told The Hard Shoulder the action will go to court tomorrow.
"We - and a number of the other airlines at the DAA - have a judicial review against the cap on the winter traffic," he said.
"Then by the end of this week we expect to submit court papers for a judicial review against the much more serious and alarming cut of one million passengers from the summer 2025 traffic at Dublin Airport.
"These cuts are illegal and the Dublin traffic cap is contrary to both EU law and the US-EU Open Skies Agreement."
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Cap concern 'no longer exists'
Mr O'Leary said the traffic cap dates back to a concern which hasn't materialised.
"The traffic cap has been imposed so that we address concerns back in 2007 that road traffic around Dublin Airport would become congested if Dublin Airport got to 32 million passengers," he said.
"This year traffic at Dublin Airport will be close to 33 million passengers and lo and behold there's no particular issue with the traffic around Dublin Airport.
"So we're imposing a cap on traffic this winter - and next summer - because of a concern in 2007 about traffic which clearly no longer exists".
Passengers disembark Ryanair planes at Dublin Airport. Image: Phil Crean A / AlamyThe Ryanair chief claimed the same concern was also "ignored" when the North Runway got approval in 2015.
"We and the other airlines have reasonably asked the Minister for Transport... to issue a letter to the IAA telling them to ignore this cap while the DAA goes through the planning process with Fingal County Council," Mr O'Leary said.
"The DAA is going through the process of getting [the planning conditions] lifted.
"They will get lifted and they'll get lifted because we've already spent the money on a second runway at Dublin Airport which takes traffic capacity to 60 million passengers.
"They will get lifted because the traffic cap is contrary to EU law, which is the freedom of movement of people around Europe, and also the EU-US Open Skies Agreement.
"You cannot put a local planning regulation which fetters the free movement of people within the European Union unless it is either for health or security issues".
Mr O'Leary suggested "99% of the people in this country want to see lower fares, more new routes, more connectivity and more jobs in aviation."
"I'd wager there's less than 1% of the country who support some stupid cap which is designed around road traffic concerns in 2007 which clearly are no longer relevant," he added.
Last week Ryanair "condemned" Transport Minister Eamon Ryan and Tourism Minister Catherine Martin for inaction on the issue - calling on them both to resign.
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