Mr. Declan Fitzpatrick:

We have no role regarding noise. We occasionally get complaints about noise and refer them to the Aircraft Noise Competent Authority, ANCA, in Fingal, the competent authority for aircraft noise at Dublin Airport. Our role in respect of noise is purely limited to aircraft certification. Under ICAO's Annex 16, there is a role for the aviation regulator, having regard to the initial design approval and type certification of an aircraft, in issuing its noise characteristics. In Europe, that is actually done by EASA, which will type-certify the aircraft and issue its noise characteristics. At national level, we issue an individual noise certificate for each aircraft. It explains the expected noise given certain criteria. How the process works is detailed in ICAO's Annex 16. The type certification and initial design approval of a new aircraft are done by EASA. In the context of individual aircraft, we issue certificates based on the analysis done by EASA.