Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Unlike the previous small local issue in which the Minister said he hd limited direct involvement, this is a major issue for which he has sole responsibility. To say his decision to appoint Fingal County Council as the competent authority under EU Regulation 598/2014 has caused consternation is probably an understatement. There is uproar in the community. People certainly did not see this one coming because of the very obvious conflict of interest.

The regulation was intended to be the mechanism for the independent regulation of aviation noise designed to protect communities from that intrusion. In order to transpose it, a competent authority had to be established to monitor such levels. It is important because the Dublin Airport Authority, DAA, has made it abundantly clear that once the body is established, it will use it in order to try to overturn the two restrictions in place on the new runway and night time flights. This is of vital importance to the surrounding community which does not resist construction of the runway per sebut is asking that the terms and conditions on which permission was granted all those years ago when we were not as knowledgeable as we are now about the damage caused by aviation noise to the health and well-being of surrounding residents be upheld. Even then, almost ten years ago, these conditions were imposed and the DAA has made no secret of the fact that it wants the restrictions to be lifted. The local community thinks the idea of appointing Fingal County Council which gave the DAA the original permission without restrictions is absurd. Not only that but 20% of the rates income of Fingal County Council comes from the DAA. The council is renowned for its deferential relationship with the DAA, given the enormous value of the DAA to the surrounding community. The idea of the council being able to be impartial against that backdrop seems crazy to residents.

It is ironic that the original choice, the Irish Aviation Authority, IAA, was broadly accepted by the community. It has an international reputation for excellence and is highly technical in its assessment of this issue. While it manages air traffic at Irish airports, there is no profit in it for it. Its money comes from overflights, not use of the runway. There is much less of a conflict of interest with the IAA which has the required experience.

I think I speak for the representatives from all of the parties who attended the briefing the Minister organised last week on this decision when I say we could not get our heads around the justification given by the Department, that the Minister was looking for an organisation that had expertise in making environmental impact assessments and dealing with noise and aviation issues. With no disrespect to anybody in Fingal County Council, at a stretch, we might grant it the first one, but there is certainly no basis for the idea that it has expertise in dealing with noise and aviation issues, yet it has a clear conflict of interest. The Minister needs to revisit this issue, go back to the drawing board and reconsider the IAA as the competent authority under the regulation.

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