Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Bhí mé ag féachaint ar an teilifís so chuala mé freagra an Aire. I will not detain the Minister because my party spokesperson, Deputy Robert Troy, and Deputy Kevin O'Keeffe have detailed some of the issues we have. As the Minister and his officials will know, for a long number of years I and my party have supported the development of the airport and the second parallel runway. There is no issue there and we are not saying this should not happen.

I have come here to ask the Minister a couple of quick questions. We had a briefing with officials a number of months ago on the legislation. The Minister outlined a very tight timeframe, which concerns me. First Stage of the Bill in the Dáil will be taken on 7 November. He is saying the Bill will pass the Dáil and the Seanad and be signed by the President, whomever that may be, on 31 December 2018. For very detailed legislation such as this, the timeframe from 7 November to 31 December is very tight. Is the Minister confident he will meet it? We have not met any of the timeframes up to now.

I am not a member of the committee and I thank the Chairman for his indulgence in allowing me to speak briefly. I place on record our grave disappointment that the Irish Aviation Authority is not the competent authority. I do not accept the advice the Minister has been given that he would not be able to create Chinese walls within the IAA to allow it to be the regulator. It should be the competent authority because it has the competence and staff to do the job. It has the salary structure to enable people to be hired to do the job.

I have great regard for Fingal County Council, a very progressive local authority which some of the Minister's officials will know very well. I have major concerns the council will not be resourced properly and does not have the expertise to perform this very serious role. I will live under the flight path of the new parallel runway and I accept that but we want to ensure residents' views and concerns are taken into account and the regulator is independent. Fingal County Council collects 22% of its rates on the Dublin Airport campus.