Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have to say the Minister's response to the House is an utter insult and that his handling of the matter has been absolutely atrocious. He got up and answered the debate by saying it was an EU directive and that we could not change it. Does he even listen to himself or know what he is saying? When the dogs on the streets know that every single EU member state has had the right to choose its own competent authority, the Minister is going to choose a different one. How, in God's name, is that not our function today? The only justification he gave was that he of the view that it was the right choice. He said the previous Attorney General had a conflict of interest in the case of the IAA, for which nobody here is arguing, and now Fingal County Council does not have that conflict of interest. In saying that the Minister does not address the points made by other Deputies and me. Therefore, as far as I am concerned, the conflict of interest which we highlighted stands because the Minister has not said one single thing to contradict it. The conflict of interest does not arise with the Commission for Aviation Regulation, CAR. Will the Minister, please, address some of the points made about why it was not chosen? We made some very good arguments as to why it should be the body chosen. The Minister has chosen a strategy of having one regulator. God forbid that it should regulate this area.

On Deputy Troy's contribution, I did not talk about jobs or connectivity because it was irrelevant for the purposes of this discussion. I did not talk about the appeals process or what would happen because it was irrelevant. The appeals process will be what it is for Fingal County Council. It will be to An Bord Pleanála if we choose the CAR because that is what is in front of us in the legislation. The word "ugency" was mentioned, but that boat sailed long ago and if this or the previous Government was keen on urgency, it would have addressed the issue before now.

This is not the only member state that has not yet enacted the regulation. A slight delay would not do any harm, but I have not heard anything that would lead me to believe such a delay is necessary or inevitable if the CAR is chosen because whatever organisation is chosen, it needs the expertise. Therefore, that too is a red herring. We need to go with the CAR. If we are talking about having a one stop regulatory body, that is the body that should deal with the issue of noise.

See this speech in context