Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

I constantly told him I had not received that complaint from anyone else, nor had I heard of any such work going on. Two weeks later, however, it was confirmed that such a machine was being operated that night. While the person was not nearest to it by any means, there is no doubt that on at least two or three occasions he was right. Either he is a very poor sleeper or his sense of hearing is far greater than mine. Noise affects people to varying degrees. It is also conditional on what the background noise is, as one is relative to the other.

The Government is accepting this Bill, although we have a lot of similar legislation on the Statute Book already. We note there is a consensus on the need for further examination of the legislation. While the proposed Bill is not perfect, we are prepared to examine it and tease it out on Committee Stage. We are coming from the same perspective of wishing to take steps to improve the quality of life for people affected by noise. I look forward to working on the Bill on Committee Stage.

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