Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

I am aware that there are polarised views and I am also aware of the benefits. My concern is also timing. A corporate entity operating in a space without sufficient regulation will not have the duty of care to communities that is required, and we are seeing that already. A commercial operator in our area is claiming it has received 77 complaints about 170,000 flights, but I would have had that number of complaints in the past seven weeks. Companies are operating within the regulations but that does not make it right. We cannot have a situation where the horse has bolted without the legitimate concerns and rights of residents being addressed. That is just bad planning. I imagine it would have consequences under the Aarhus Convention. If U-space is the answer to getting the balance right, then the IAA needs the funding and resources to implement it now and certainly not in 2030, as some of the replies to parliamentary questions suggest.

While I have the Minister, and maybe a one-word answer would suffice, the legal barriers to DART+ West have been cleared. Will he progress the project and funding it as soon as he can?

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