Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to see the Deputy is interested in this matter. I fully appreciate the effect that excessive aircraft noise has on communities. As the Deputy may be aware, the Aircraft Noise (Dublin Airport) Regulation Act was signed into law on 22 May 2019. The main purpose of that Act is to manage noise at Dublin Airport and to give applicability to EU Regulation No. 598/2014, which sets out the rules and procedures with regard to the introduction of noise-related operating restrictions at European Union airports. The Act provides, for the first time, that noise generated by aircraft activity at Dublin Airport will be subject to extensive, detailed assessment, to ongoing monitoring and to regular review. I raised the bar in relation to what the DAA, as the operator of Dublin Airport, is required to do to comply with noise rules. The Act is about ensuring the sustainable development of the airport, which balances the ambitions of the DAA, the needs of business and tourism interests and the rights of local residents. The Act respects existing planning and development and environmental laws and is underpinned by binding EU regulations and directives on environmental and aircraft noise. It ensures that every time a planning application at Dublin Airport is considered, the aircraft noise implications are considered also.

Fingal County Council has been designated as the independent noise regulator for Dublin Airport. Any decision on noise to be made by the council, in this role as noise regulator, will be evidenced-based and will be fully in adherence with the requirements of national law and EU regulations. The process, as provided for in the Act, requires that at least once every five years the noise regulator will undertake an assessment of the noise situation at the airport. This will include taking into account any future developments planned at the airport. Where the noise regulator identifies a noise problem on foot of that assessment, it will adopt the so-called balanced approach.

The balanced approach allows the regulator to decide what steps need to be taken by the DAA to offset the impact of such noise. It might mean more home insulation, adjustments to flight paths or it might require physical works to act as sound barriers. That will be a matter for the regulator following its detailed assessment. Importantly, this process will be open and transparent.

There will be public consultation and at each stage, the regulator will be required to publish information and evidence and keep all stakeholders abreast of developments. The decision of the regulator will be accompanied by a report detailing how the decision was reached, which will include a non-technical summary. I would like to clarify that the Act must be read in tandem with EU Regulation No. 598/2014 and with EU Directive No. 2002/49/ EC, the environmental noise directive, because the noise regulator must have regard to all three of these in carrying out its regulatory assessment of noise.

The Act, therefore, sets out a process for a noise regulation regime that allows for full stakeholder engagement, along with an independent appeals process, which will provide certainty to stakeholders. The Act sets out a structured approach to assessing and addressing aircraft noise at Dublin Airport with the objective of facilitating airport development and expansion in a way that minimises, as far as practicable, the noise impact of that expansion.

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