Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Bill is explicit with respect to the new role of the noise regulator in overseeing and holding the DAA to account regarding existing home insulation schemes and the homes buyout. From the outset of Committee Stage, Deputies Troy and Darragh O'Brien made it clear they could only support it if included a provision that the noise regulator assume responsibility for all existing noise insulation schemes available to residents around Dublin Airport and the voluntary purchase scheme.

I will not accept Deputy Brendan Ryan's amendments, although I appreciate that he is trying to do something good. He will understand when I explain that what he is proposing introduces uncertainty to what is now clear text that has been worked on extensively in recent months. It has been the subject of discussions with Deputy Darragh O'Brien in particular and cleared by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel to ensure that it is sound. For example, there is no clear definition of what Deputy Brendan Ryan terms as "any adjacent area" and this type of phraseology does not add to the Bill; it instead introduces a degree of uncertainty. The text as it stands covers all schemes put in place by the DAA. The Bill applies to Dublin Airport, not Cork, and there is no need to further qualify that.

The effect of Deputy Brendan Ryan's other proposed amendment, which references a regulatory decision, would be to exclude existing noise insulation schemes not brought in by means of a regulatory decision. I am sure that is not his intention.

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