Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

That was a gob-smackingly shocking answer in some ways. Here we have a measure which was put forward to supposedly protect airport communities from airport noise through the establishment of a competent authority and which was years in the making. The previous Attorney General gave different advice to the present one. The Minister announced months ago that he had finally decided to appoint Fingal County Council and while many people locally are very unhappy with that, they would have expected some progress. It is wholly unreasonable to expect Fingal County Council to take on this cost and not give it any money. Of course, the contradictory part is that this competent authority, which was designed to protect communities, has actually been put up there as the vehicle which the DAA is going to use to undermine existing conditions which protect the community from the new runway. People are seriously concerned. What mechanism is in place to involve the local community in an active consultation role with the council or other bodies at this stage of the process?

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