Dublin Airport has refreshed the outdoor smoking and vaping area outside Terminal 1 departures, adding new seating and privacy walls after passengers asked for a better space. The area is landside, before security, so it is the place for a cigarette before you check in or go through screening. After security, the smoking area is still The Garden Terrace in Terminal 1. Every smoking area at the airport, with directions, is on our Dublin Airport smoking guide.
What Changed Outside Terminal 1
Dublin Airport announced the change on 28 September 2026: “As part of our Terminal 1 upgrade, and following passenger feedback, the smoking area in Departures has been refreshed with new seating and privacy walls.”
It followed up on 1 October: “Passengers told us they wanted a better dedicated smoking/vaping area outside Terminal 1. So we’ve made it happen!”
The airport’s photos show wooden benches and round wooden seats, ash bins, smoking and vaping signs on the terminal wall, and tall screens set in wooden planters that separate the area from the walkway, all under the terminal canopy. One screen carries the Irish words “Feicfidh mé go luath thú”, “See you soon”.
The Irish Sun reported the refresh on 2 October 2026, describing “new wooden benches surrounded by privacy walls outside Terminal 1 departures”.
Which Side of Security
The refreshed area is outside the terminal building, landside, so have your cigarette there before you go through security. Once you are airside, the option is The Garden Terrace, the bar on the upper level of Terminal 1 near gates 101-224 with an outdoor smoking area. Travellers have described an airside walk from Terminal 2 of about 10-15 minutes each way; a reader on our Dublin page, departing from Pier 4 on 5 October 2026, was told by five staff members that there is no connection after security. Dublin Airport publishes no route between the terminals for departing passengers, so ask staff before you count on it.
Flying to the United States? Smoke at The Garden Terrace before you enter US pre-clearance; there are no smoking facilities inside the pre-clearance zone and no way back out.
What About Terminal 2?
In late December 2025 the airport said it hoped to announce plans for a new smoking area in the terminal, something passengers had asked for over several years. The Terminal 1 refresh is a separate project. When a passenger replied to the October announcement that an airside smoking area in Terminal 2 would have been the better idea, Dublin Airport answered: “Working on that separately.” To another asking for Terminal 2 to be next, it said: “The team are working on that.” The airport has given no date or location for a Terminal 2 area.
Current Smoking Options at Dublin Airport
- Terminal 1 departures, before security – the refreshed outdoor smoking and vaping area, with new seating and privacy walls
- The Garden Terrace, Terminal 1, after security – an outdoor smoking area at the bar on the upper level near gates 101-224; from Terminal 2, ask staff whether the airside walk is open
- Terminal 2, before security – the outdoor area outside the departures entrance
The airport calls the refreshed Terminal 1 area a smoking and vaping area. For The Garden Terrace, the Terminal 2 area and heated tobacco it publishes no vaping rule, so ask staff; the terminal buildings themselves are smoke-free under Irish law.
For directions to The Garden Terrace, the walk from Terminal 2 and the US pre-clearance warning, see our Dublin Airport smoking guide. For Cork, Shannon and Ireland’s smoking law, see our Ireland smoking guide.
Sources: Dublin Airport’s announcements of 28 September and 1 October 2026; The Irish Sun, 2 October 2026; Dublin Airport FAQs