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

I move amendment No. 797:

In page 32, between lines 13 and 14, to insert the following:

“Interpretation

171. (1) In this Act—

“Act of 2019” means the Aircraft Noise (Dublin Airport) Regulation Act 2019;

“Aircraft Noise Regulation” means Regulation (EU) No. 598/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on the establishment of rules and procedures with regard to the introduction of noise-related operating restrictions at Union airports within a Balanced Approach and repealing Directive 2002/30/EC;

“airport” means Dublin Airport and includes, as appropriate, the area around the airport significantly affected by aircraft noise;

“airport authority” means daa public limited company;

“appeal body” shall be construed in accordance with subsection (1) of section 10 of the Act of 2019;

“competent authority” means the competent authority designated by section 3 of the Act of 2019 to be the competent authority for the purposes of the Aircraft Noise Regulation;

“Environmental Noise Directive” means Directive 2002/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 June 2002 relating to the assessment and management of environmental noise;

“introduced” includes implemented;

“measure” includes a restriction;

“noise” means aircraft noise;

“noise abatement objective” means the noise abatement objective for the airport;

“noise mitigation measure” means a noise mitigation measure in place at the airport and includes—

(a) a land-use planning and management measure intended to reduce noise at source,

and

(b) a noise abatement operational measure, that do not restrict the capacity of the airport but does not include an operating restriction;

“operating restriction” means an operating restriction in place at the airport;

“relevant authority” means—

(a) the planning authority, or

(b) the competent authority;

“specified” means, in relation to a form, specified under section 28 of the Act of 2019.

(2) (a) A word or expression that is used in this Act and in the Aircraft Noise Regulation has the meaning in this Act that it has in that Regulation.

(b) A word or expression that is used in this Act and in the Environmental Noise Directive has the meaning in this Act that it has in that Directive.3) Where a provision of this Act or regulations under this Act provides for the specification of a period in a notice or direction, the period specified shall be a period that is reasonable in all the circumstances of the case.

These amendments relate to Part 5 of the Bill, which restates, with minor modifications, the provisions inserted into the 2000 Act by the Aircraft Noise (Dublin Airport) Regulation Act 2019. The amendments are all minor in nature and do not change the policy position of this Part. They address some matters to make it easier to read the Part and some typographical errors.

For the sake of completeness I will cover some of these amendments. Amendment Nos. 797 and 798 replace the current section 171 relating to the interpretation of Part 5. Currently, section 171 notes that the definitions in the Act of 2019 apply to Part 5. This amendment inserts the text of the relevant definitions from the Act of 2019 into this Bill rather than just referring back to them. It is an insertion and this will make navigating this Part of the Bill easier.

There are a number of amendments and the response relates to all of them. Amendments Nos. 799, 800, 803, 804 and 808 to 812, inclusive, all relate to sections that refer to “measures and restrictions”. The reference to “and restrictions” is proposed to be deleted as “measures” are defined in section 171 to include restrictions.

Amendments Nos. 801 and 805 are very minor textual amendments that change a reference from “one relevant authority” to “a relevant authority”.

Amendment No. 802 deletes a comma.

Amendments Nos. 806 and 807 update an incorrect reference.