Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 81:

In page 20, to delete lines 19 to 37 and substitute the following:

“34B. (1) (a) (i) Where the planning authority receives an application under section 34 for development at the airport, it shall, as soon as is practicable after such receipt—

(I) give a copy of the application to the competent authority, and

(II) enter into consultations with the competent authority for the purposes of giving such assistance as the competent authority may require in order to enable the competent authority, within 4 weeks of the competent authority receiving such copy, to either form the opinion referred to in subparagraph (iii) or to conclude that it is not of that opinion.

(ii) The competent authority shall, where it concludes that it is not of the opinion referred to in subparagraph (iii), as soon as is practicable after it so concludes, give notice in writing of that conclusion to the planning authority.

(iii) The following provisions of this section apply where the competent authority, in considering the application, forms the opinion that the development—

(I) contains a proposal requiring the assessment for the need for a noise-related action, or

(II) indicates that a new operating restriction may be required.

(b) Subsections (1) to (3) of section 9 of the Aircraft Noise (Dublin Airport) Regulation Act 2019 shall, with all necessary modifications, apply to the performance by the competent authority of its functions under this section.

(c) Subsections (4) to (7) of section 9 of the Aircraft Noise (Dublin Airport) Regulation Act 2019 shall, with all necessary modifications, apply to measures and restrictions referred to in this section as those subsections apply to measures and restrictions referred to in those subsections. (2) The competent authority shall, as soon as is practicable after it forms the opinion referred to in subsection (1)(a)(iii), give notice in writing to the planning authority of that opinion and the planning authority shall, as soon as is practicable after receiving the notice, consult with the competent authority in relation to, as appropriate, one or more of the following matters:”.

This is an important change highlighted to me by my officials. I understand it was signalled by Deputies Clare Daly and Darragh O'Brien. I thank them for this proposal. I will not accept their exact wording for obvious reasons but I have put forward wording which will achieve the same aim and make the necessary consequential amendments. These amendments provide that when an application for a development to the airport is made to the planning authority, that application will then be provided by the planning authority to the noise regulator. The noise regulator will adjudicate on whether there is a noise dimension in the development application that needs to be assessed under EU Regulation No. 598 in line with the balanced approach. Where the noise regulator makes a determination that an application does fall within Regulation No. 598, the planning authority must wait for the outcome of that assessment before making a final decision on the planning application. Once the noise regulator has completed its work and made a regulatory noise decision following the necessary public consultation, it will inform the planning authority. The planning authority will then be in a position to make a final decision on the development and must adopt the regulatory decision of the noise regulator as planning conditions to the development.