Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)

Like so many areas in the environment portfolio, the Government has effectively washed its hands of the matter.

The Department's website notes that 12 years ago the then Minister made regulations under the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992 whereby any individual, person or local authority may complain to the District Court to seek an order to deal with noise pollution. The nuisance was defined as noise so loud, so continuous, so repetitive, of such pitch or duration or occurring at such times that it gives a person reasonable cause for annoyance.

The process which the individual or group must go through to seek redress, however, is too tough in our view. A complainant must give notice to the person making the noise of the intention to make a formal complaint to the District Court and then he or she must serve a notice on the alleged offender that a complaint is being made at least seven days in advance of that complaint being made to the court. The District Court will hear both sides of the complaint and where it finds in favour of a complainant, it can order the person or bodies making the noise to reduce it to a specific level, limit it to specific times or stop it all together. The process for doing that is far too long and cumbersome, it is like using a machine gun to swat a fly. The courts should not be involved at all, we should be able to devise a system where a satisfactory solution can be reached without resorting to the time and expense of the District Court.

The most recent move in the noise pollution area came from the Minister in April but it did not even refer to domestic noise. The Environmental Noise Regulations 2006 dealt only with unwanted or harmful outdoor noise created by road, rail or air traffic or industrial sites. While we welcome any regulations aimed at managing noise in urban areas and around major national infrastructure works, it is a remarkable oversight that measures to deal with the problems addressed by this Bill were not taken.

The Minister said in April, "I know that neighbourhood noise nuisance is a serious problem in many areas, and a number of options already exist to address it". Could the Minister clarify these comments in his response to the debate? Is he happy with the current framework for complaints and does he think nothing needs to be done or does he now feel differently? If so, what does he intend to do about it and when?

The Environmental Protection Agency will have overall responsibility for the implementation of April's regulations but governance at local level will be a matter for the local authorities and Dublin Airport Authority, the National Roads Authority, Iarnród Éireann and the Railway Procurement Agency. Part of the problem, however, with much of what the Government tries and fails to do is the lack of joined-up Government and the tendency for things to fall through the cracks because so many Departments and agencies are responsible. I am concerned that the lack of over-arching responsibility will act against the proper implementation of such regulations and I am glad this Bill touches on the area by establishing a one-stop shop for noise complaints while empowering local authorities to do what needs to be done.

I welcome the provisions in section 11 of the Bill regarding intruder alarms. Far too often these alarms sound when there has been no intrusion onto or into someone's property and the din goes on for hours at a time because the property owner is not present. Indeed, it is not uncommon for such alarms to sound for days on end while residents are on holiday. The Bill states that external intruder alarms which remain activated after a 15 minute maximum will be considered unmonitored and may be removed on foot of a complaint to a noise control officer to cease the noise. That is eminently sensible.

As a party of rights and responsibilities, Fine Gael believes that being a good, thoughtful citizen is one of the most important duties of every individual and ensuring that neighbours are not subjected to endless noise is a part of that. It is easy to programme an intruder alarm to ensure it does not disturb one's neighbour for an undue length of time but often people do not think of doing this.

Section 11(6) states an alarm device fitted to a vehicle may be activated for a minimum of 15 seconds and a maximum of 90 seconds. While this provision is welcome, if the Minister were to allow the Bill to progress to Committee Stage it would be possible to debate the 90 seconds time limit and the other provisions. I favour a 15 minute maximum limit similar to the provisions in the Bill relating to home intruder alarms. I would be interested to hear the Minister of State's or the Government's views on having two different maximum time limits.

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