Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Commission for Aviation Regulation, CAR, was examined as an option. It is a small economic regulatory body responsible for determining the maximum level of charges which may be charged at Dublin Airport. It has no expertise or statutory remit in regard to environmental noise, environmental protection or planning and development, all of which issues are critical elements of the Bill. Furthermore, it has no current capacity to or experience of running the type of extensive public consultations required by regulation EU Regulation No. 598/2014. Importantly, it does not have the organisational capacity to absorb a substantive new function within a relatively short timeframe. It is a small economic regulator with some additional consumer protection functions and has approximately 20 staff. It simply is not currently equipped to undertake the role of noise regulator within any reasonable timeframe.

The Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, was also considered as an option. It has a statutory remit in regard to environmental protection. It has an oversight role in terms of ensuring compliance by State bodies under the environmental noise directive in respect of noise maps and noise action plans produced by local authorities. It is the considered view that the regulatory requirements under EU Regulation No. 598/2014 are very different to the licensing, audit and inspection role of the EPA. The role under EU Regulation No. 598/2014 would represent a step change from what it is currently set up to do.

On Second Stage I addressed the decision to appoint Fingal County Council to this role and outlined the reasons I believe the council is the best fit. I will briefly reiterate those points for clarity. There is significant overlap between EU Regulation No. 598/2014, the planning process and environmental protection requirements. In that respect, Fingal County Council is well suited to the job in light of its extensive experience in planning and development, land use planning and management, appropriate assessment, environmental impact assessment and managing large public consultations.

Providing the council with additional legal powers to regulate noise at Dublin Airport builds on its functions relating to noise under the environmental noise directive, END, and the planning code generally. As will be discussed further under section 5 of the Bill, Fingal County Council will impose a levy on the DAA to cover the costs of carrying out its functions under this Act. This will allow the council to bring in the expertise necessary to make evidence-based regulatory decisions on the most appropriate measures to be imposed at the airport. It will also allow it to build upon its in-house capacity. The decision of the noise regulator will be open and transparent, subject to appeal and judicial review. I am satisfied that the proposal on the implementation of EU Regulation No. 598/2014 is wholly aligned with the long established multifunctional role played by all local authorities and, in my view, Fingal County Council is the most suitable body to take on this role.

I will answer the question posed by Deputy Troy because it took a slightly different line fromseeking to have a different regulator. I understand the Deputy is concerned to make sure the regulatory process is robust, rigorous and immune from any inappropriate outside influence. I share his concern and recognise that he has consistently pursued this objective. In some ways, he has been the bane of my life for the past 18 months. The Deputy can be assured that I posed the same questions to my officials. The matter has been subjected to serious and rigorous examination, including legal examination. The conclusion is that the current provisions in the Bill are sound and meet the requirements the Deputy addressed.

Fingal County Council will establish a new, well resourced and dedicated aircraft noise regulation office within the executive branch, which will include the appropriate noise expertise sought by the Deputy. The office will be headed at a senior level by a director of services with all of the appropriate arrangements to ensure decisions are taken fully in accordance with the law, as happens in planning and development, for example. The Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government recently gave sanction to Fingal County Council to take on up to nine permanent staff for its new office. I am confident that the council will have all of the tools at its disposal to reach a decision in line with EU Regulation No. 598/2014. The legislation sets out the legal framework that the noise regulator will need to work to. It is a matter for Fingal County Council to determine how best to administer that function.

I will respond to members' specific questions which share a common theme. While I do not want to repeat myself, I am happy to do so. Deputy Munster said that Fingal County Council is not independent and she seemed to indicate that the IAA was the preferred and original choice. She also claimed that this has been a rushed job. That is a fair comment in many ways. We are absolutely satisfied that Fingal County Council will be independent. We have examined the independence of the council. I understand Dublin Airport accounts for 7% of its income and we are perfectly happy with that percentage. That decision or verdict of independence is supported by the Government's legal adviser, namely, the Attorney General. I remind members of one important fact.

It was the Attorney General's office that decided that the IAA was not independent. That was the problem. Presumably using the same criteria, which it obviously has, to judge the independence of the IAA and Fingal County Council, it has decided that the council is independent. I cannot take higher or more compelling advice. The Attorney General's legal advice is something of which we have to take heed. Were we to defy it in any way, members would be the first people to come to me and say doing so was reckless. The Attorney General has said that Fingal County Council is independent. Even Opposition Members must consider that a serious point.

Deputy Munster said this was a rushed job. I accept fully the criticism that it has taken too long. I will put my hands up - the problems involved were not necessarily of my making, but I take responsibility for them. That this has taken too long has been the result of various legal advices and other matters. However, having been criticised for two and a half years for this taking too long and, after accepting that perfectly legitimate criticism and making haste in response, it is difficult to now be told it is a rushed job. We are in haste and we want to get this Bill through quickly. We are late. It is important for many reasons that the Bill be expedited. I am grateful to the committee members for at least assisting in that and giving plenty of time for a valuable debate on the merits of whichever body they believe would best be the competent authority.

I have probably dealt with the issue of independence that Deputy Daly raised, although I am sure she does not agree with me. She referred to our "somersault". It was good rhetoric, but what we have done is make a decision on the back of legal advice that the IAA was not the right body and then moved on to what we now believe is a very good body to do this work. We are accepting the legal advice that was given in that regard.

The Deputy referred to EU member states. Ireland is in line with other member states in its choice of competent authority. Member states are notable for the diversity of their competent authorities. I can see no formula, template or common theme. There are five or six categories from which such authorities have been chosen. The Deputy is correct in much of what she said. For example, yet to designate are Belgium and Spain. They will do so shortly, but we do not know which way they will go. France and Romania have designated multiple bodies. A government department has been designated by Austria, Greece, Hungary, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. The aviation authority has been designated by the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Portugal and Sweden. Probably because the regulation is qualified by the numbers involved, it does not apply to Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Lithuania, Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia. In common with us, Germany and the UK have designated local or regional authorities, so we are not an outrider completely. There is great variety. I do not know enough about the situation to know why every country chose particular bodies, but I expect those countries were considering the same criteria as us. Their various bodies have different levels of independence. To say that we are on our own is not true. Germany and the UK have made similar decisions.

The rate base is 7% of Fingal's income. Deputies Daly and Coppinger talked about the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA was consulted. I do not know about freedom of information data. It is useful to have it but the agency was consulted. I can assure Deputies of that.