Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

For reasons which I have already made clear, which are good reasons, I cannot accept this amendment. We have to be careful about taking possession of the argument that there are some people who are in favour of including the residents and others who are not. Everybody is in favour of the residents having the maximum possible input. The text which Deputy Munster seeks to amend is taken directly from EU Regulation 598 and I am unable to amend an EU regulation. I agree that the local residents need to be included in the review. The inclusion of local residents groups and individual residents is provided for in subsection (e) which states: " the stakeholders are consulted in a transparent way on the intended actions;". Section 9 also provides for a 14 week public consultation on the draft decision of the noise regulator.

Deputy Murphy, through no fault of her own, was not here earlier when we were discussing the issue of residents. EU Regulation 598 states that if the assessment referred to indicates that new operating restrictions may be required to address a noise problem at an airport the competent authority shall ensure that the process of consultation with interested parties, which may take the form of a mediation process, is organised in a timely and substantive manner, ensuring openness and transparency as regards data and computation methodologies and that interested parties shall have at least three months prior to the adoption of new operating restrictions to submit comments. It also states that interested parties shall include at least local residents living in the vicinity of the airport and affected by air traffic noise or their representatives, the relevant local authorities and representatives of local businesses based in the vicinity of the airport whose activities are affected by air traffic and the operation of the airport. This is a direction to the noise regulator, which, I think, meets what Deputy Munster is seeking in her amendment.