Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Troy for raising this important matter. I share his frustration about the delay. It is something I regret enormously but it is very important that we get it right. We are dependent on legal advice wherever it is coming from but mostly from the Attorney General's office. We will take that legal advice. What is important to hear is that we get it right. I am sure if we got it wrong and there were consequences, Deputy Troy would rightly be the first person to come into the House and say the legislation was rushed and we were to blame for it. I assure the House we are still working extremely strenuously towards the objectives of which he spoke and that there is absolutely no intention to make any changes. The route whereby we get there is the matter that is being worked upon very intensely in the Attorney General's office and elsewhere. That route is slower than we expected but it will be finalised in good time so that the timetable is not in any way knocked.

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I have made a number of contributions in the House on this matter over the course of the past 12 months, which is too long. The Deputy mentioned November 2016 and he is absolutely correct; it is far too long and it is something I regret. I regret it was not finalised within the timetable which we intended but we are moving as hastily as we possibly can without damaging the chances of the final answer we will come to. It has also been raised in response to questions by Deputy Clare Daly who has a keen interest in this issue.

As Deputy Troy rightly said, the residents have a real interest in this issue as well and they have a right to a hearing. Deputy Troy will be aware I have met many delegations of residents to whom I have listened speak about the difficulties they are facing. I have every sympathy for them. That has been passed on to the DAA on every occasion. I will continue to meet delegations of the residents because people have a right to a certain tranquility and not to be disrupted too much by airlines. That is why we will have a noise regulator.

As the Deputy may know, the EU noise regulation, Regulation 598/2014, establishes a set of common rules and procedures to deal with noise issues at airports within all EU member states. The regulation which came into effect in June of last year, applies to airports of a certain size. In Ireland, it is only applicable to Dublin Airport.

The regulation is an important addition to the EU legal framework for effective environmental management and control. It seeks to ensure that airport capacity is developed in a measured and balanced way, with due regard to economic growth, jobs, prosperity and the mitigation of environmental impacts. The main purpose of the regulation is to provide member states with a common framework for applying internationally agreed best practices in the area of aviation noise management.

On the one hand, the regulation recognises the importance of aviation connectivity in supporting economic growth, social development and international trade. On the other hand, it also recognises the need for states to expand airport capacity in a controlled and sensible manner, especially in minimising the impact of aircraft noise in the vicinity of airport sites. Drawing on methodology agreed at the UN's International Civil Aviation Organisation, which is the global body responsible for co-ordinating and developing international aviation, the EU regulation provides a way of ensuring that aircraft noise is managed in a coherent and balanced manner.

Under the regulation, which came into effect last year and which is therefore law here, I am required to appoint a competent authority to be responsible for its application. Such a body shall be responsible for measuring noise and making decisions about how it should be managed by the airport in the context of current and future activity and expansion. Typically, this would be a relatively straightforward task involving a statutory instrument to nominate the competent authority. However, as the Deputy will know, it has proven very complex to transfer onto existing Irish planning and development arrangements, and my Department has had to work quite intensively with the Office of the Attorney General over an extended period of time to work through the best way to ensure Ireland is fully compliant.

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