Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)

I congratulate the Green Party for introducing this Bill. The Minister of State mentioned the various sources from which noise emanates. At one stage of my career, I was chairman of a safety committee in a very noisy industrial installation. At that time, the decibel levels were far above what was permitted. Many of my colleagues suffered hearing damage. However, this was before the time that people took legal action against employers regarding such matters. We must recognise the work done by health and safety organisations in controlling noise levels and preventing hearing damage.

One instance that highlights this issue is the experience of the State in the Army deafness claims. This occurred at the same time as damage was being done in industrial and construction environments. At that time, noise levels were accepted as a matter of life and there was no understanding or recognition of the damage it could do to people's hearing. Some people were unable to hear conversations unless they were speaking on a one-to-one basis.

Some Members have mentioned anti-social behaviour. This issue has been raised with me regarding noise levels after weekend discos close in Newcastle West. There is a considerable level of noise in residential areas in the town. Gardaí find it difficult to control such behaviour when there is no apparent breaking of the law. A gang of young men can create a lot of noise and wake up residents, particularly elderly residents. The Bill will be more than welcome if it addresses this problem. This is a serious issue and while people tend to tolerate it, it is unfair on those who must endure it.

We have all come across the issue of dogs barking loudly. It is specifically mentioned in the Bill, and the Green Party has qualified this by stating that an independent witness would be required to activate the involvement of the noise control officer. A night-shift nurse living on a council estate told me that she cannot sleep because of the noise emanating from her neighbour's dogs. I asked permission to report this to Limerick County Council, but she asked me not to as she did not want to draw attention to it or upset the neighbours. An elderly couple nearby also raised the issue, but they too insisted that it should not be reported because of the upset and difficulty it may have caused. That is unfair on those people. I was in a dilemma over whether I should report this problem, but chose not to because I felt the finger would be pointed at the individuals in question.

Some method of taking positive action with the council or noise control officers would be useful. This does not only happen in local authority housing estates where some action can be taken, but it also happens in private housing estates where the council has no involvement.

The Minister of State also referred to noise caused by urban road and rail traffic. I do not know what can be done about such traffic. It would be difficult to reduce noise on our main thoroughfares. I presume the approach will involve limiting noise output from vehicles or reducing speed limits. However, it would be contradictory to reduce speed limits when we are building highways. When I was growing up I lived quite close to a railway and we found the whistle of passing trains to be quite attractive.

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