Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute again to this debate. I have asked about this on several occasions. I have acknowledged that the appointment of Fingal County Council is imperfect. We have facilitated the process by abstaining to allow the provisions through. We have worked tirelessly in and out of committee with the Minister and his officials to try to improve this legislation. I thank him for acknowledging that.

I am keen for him to clearly outline in one of his contributions the additional resources that will be allocated to Fingal County Council to ensure that the council can hire in competent capable staff who will be able to deal with this in an efficient manner. What measures will be taken to ensure that there will be robust transparency? Following our intervention, the Minister agreed that external consultants would be brought in to ensure the work of the competent authority was being done right. Certainly, that is not something he had advocated beforehand. That is something we have achieved now. It is important that we get this right. It is important for the people who do not have confidence in this authority at the moment. It is important that their confidence in the authority can be built over a period.

It is timely to appoint a competent authority. What some Members do not seem to think about in any way is the economic growth of the region and the country. They do not seem to think about the €8.3 billion that our airport contributes on an annual basis, the 117,000 jobs that the airport supports directly and indirectly and the thousands of families who rely on the airport in Fingal. Some people think that if the airport grows it is somehow wrong. Why are we building a second runway if we do not want the airport to grow? Surely it is good for our economy if we bring in more tourists and have greater connectivity between our country, mainland Europe and the world. I would have thought that was better. However, we have to do that in a sustainable manner. We have to ensure a balanced approach. That is why I have worked on this since the beginning, at a time other Deputies were not present for Second or Committee Stages and were mute in recent years on this issue.

This has been going on since the previous Government was in office. The EU regulation has been in force since 2014 but there had been no advancement until now. The beauty about this is that the final adjudicator for any appeal brought will be An Bord Pleanála, a statutory independent body. I know from dealing with several residents in the area that they have confidence in that body to ensure fairness and a balanced approach and that their concerns will be addressed.

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