Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

As a Deputy and Minister of State who will be familiar with this issue given his constituency borders the airport, I am sure he has attended many of the public consultations. I ask him to ask the DAA and Irish Aviation Authority, IAA, to make a presentation to the communities on the new the flight paths prior to them coming into operation. The communities have requested this on a number of occasions. They are engaged communities that understand the airport, flights and the issues involved. They are adept and experienced with community engagement, but they are being ignored on this issue. The communities and Deputies are being given vague responses. At a meeting of the Joint Committee on Transport and Communication yesterday, we were told that the flights, as they exist now, are in compliance with the 2007 planning permission. Anyone who is on nodding terms with that knows that prima faciethere is a question mark over that. There is a huge breakdown of trust. We need to see better community engagement. I ask the Minister of State to ask DAA and the IAA to do that before the new flight paths come into operation at end of February.

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