Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I too support Deputy Daly's amendments Nos. 86 and 93. For the foregoing reasons, we have to have penalties for misdemeanours or breaches of guidelines. There is a plethora of question marks around this regulation and the competent authority and the independence of same. Competence is not only an issue in this area. In my county, the county council is the planning regulatory authority but issues have arisen in regard to the location of a shooting range close to the homes of a number of families and it will not deal with them. It is playing around and Joe public is left with no redress. People should not be deprived of their sleep, which they will be if noisy aircraft are permitted. Airlines should be compelled to operate aircraft with low noise emissions. There should be strict standards in this regard and an independent arbitrator to adjudicate on breaches of noise regulations. This requirement will need to monitored and enforced. As in the case of many similar issues in the past there were rigorous planning processes, oral hearings and legislation introduced and debated here but people were left with diddly-squat in terms of being able to make a complaint or get satisfaction.

I cannot believe the Minister, Deputy Ross, is opposed to financial penalties. Maybe he is not: maybe he has changed. He was well able to incorporate financial penalties into other legislation, including in the Road Traffic (Amendment) Act 2018, to penalise ordinary families. That Act provides for punitive penalties on young people who want to learn how to drive but do not want their cars seized or their parents fined. It is a case of to Hell or to Connacht with those people in the country and in some cases in the city. In this area, we are dealing with big business and large aircraft companies and the Minister is reluctant to provide for any meaningful penalties on them in respect of breaches of the regulation. As I said, there are a lot of question marks about whether Fingal County Council should be the competent authority. I do not know the answer to that question but I have concerns given the manner in which the Minister, Deputy Ross, has addressed other issues and the hames he made of them. There is nobody on the Government benches tonight to support the Minister on this legislation. There is nobody here from the Independent Alliance or Fine Gael. Last night, when the soccer match was on, many Deputies went missing and the Minister could only muster 29 Deputies to support him. Fianna Fáil, as usual, sat on its hands but the Minister still could not get sufficient support to pass his amendments. The Minister needs to consider if he is capable of enacting legislation and if there is anybody in the Cabinet who supports him or has any respect for his legislative measures.

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