Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal East, Labour)

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

I am delighted to have the opportunity to move this Bill on Second Stage. To be clear, this Bill will not solve the many issues impacting negatively the daily lives of residents in north County Dublin and east County Meath, including aircraft noise, night-time flights and the passenger cap. Members of the Government who were in opposition when this Bill was introduced supported it at the time.

It would transfer the functions for regulating aircraft noise from the aircraft noise competent authority, ANCA, under the auspices of Fingal County Council, to the Environmental Protection Agency, recognising, as should be the case, the physical and mental health impacts aircraft noise has on individuals. This Bill is about transferring the function for regulating aircraft noise from Fingal County Council to the EPA. It is in response to the Aircraft Noise (Dublin Airport) Regulation Act 2019, which the Labour Party opposed at the time. This is a long-standing position of the Labour Party. We believe the function of aircraft noise monitoring should be within the EPA. That is our preferred option. This position goes back to Councillor Peter Coyle from the Howth-Malahide ward almost 20 years and it has been supported by our party and others ever since, including the current Fingal representation of Councillors Brian McDonagh, James Humphreys, Brendan Ryan and Corina Johnston, as well as Deputy Robert O’Donoghue.

Since the aircraft noise competent authority, ANCA, was set up under the auspices of Fingal County Council, I must make it clear that there are absolutely no issues when it comes to the probity or professionalism of any of the officials. This Bill is not being brought because of any concern about probity or professionalism. Rather, it relates to the fact that, structurally, we still believe, as we always have, that setting up aircraft noise monitoring under the auspices of a local authority is an unsound option. It is not the preferred option to tackle the issue of aircraft noise, which, as we know from a 2018 WHO report, has an impact not only on the mental and emotional well-being of people but on their physical health too. I and other Deputies in the Chamber today have attended a number of presentations by the forum group in Fingal and Meath whose members have given strong testimony regarding the impact on their health, backing up the World Health Organization’s assessment.

Aircraft noise can increase cardiovascular disease. People are 20% more likely to experience cardiovascular disease in areas of high aircraft noise. There are also issues of noise pollution and particulate matter in air pollution, which are caused by aircraft. While we are always told by the aviation industry that aircraft will be running on biofuels in a few years’ time and that they will make no noise and be practically gliders, that is absolute nonsense. We have been hearing that for years. The fact of the matter is that, now, we have poor air pollution and particulate matter landing and resting on the homes of people in south Swords and all over north County Dublin. It is having a real impact on people’s health.

An agency such as the EPA is best placed to provide that monitoring service. The reason for this is that Fingal County Council is ultimately a unit of local government that represents the interests of the residents living in the vicinity of the airport. One of the principal functions of local government, as set out in section 63 of the Local Government Act 2001, is to provide a forum for the democratic representation of the local community and to provide civic leadership for that community. It may be argued that by vesting the functions of aircraft noise with the chief executive of the county council rather than with the elected members, the Act has achieved a functional separation, which is an EU legal term. Functional separation has been achieved in the electricity and gas sectors, for example, when certain functions assigned to an undertaking are spun off into an independently operated entity, even though common ownership is preserved. True functional separation, however, requires a proper separation of functions. It is not achieved if notionally separated entities have mixed or overlapping functions. In this case, the chief executive of Fingal County Council has been given a noise regulation function under the 2019 Act which he or she must perform without direction from the elected members of the council. At the same time, however, he or she remains chief executive of a body whose principal statutory function is to provide a forum for the democratic representation of the local community and to provide that civic leadership for that community. In summary, the function of acting as a competent authority is vested in an individual whose principal existing statutory function is to advise and assist elected representatives of such local authority, while the council’s own statutory remit is to provide a forum for the democratic representation of the local community around the airport. In those circumstances, it can be called into question whether true functional separation can be achieved without the competent authority and the local residents via their elected members on the council, of which the competent authority continues to serve as chief executive. While that might sound convoluted, it points to the fact that we believe, and have always believed, that this has not been a sound structure for the monitoring of aircraft noise.

I listened to Michael O’Leary on Newstalk today telling my constituents to “suck it up” when it comes to aircraft noise. Why does Mr. O’Leary, with his vast wealth, not buy a property right under one of the unexpected and uninsulated flight paths and put his money where his mouth is? We saw how he approached the previous Minister for Transport with a view that insulting and bullying would cow him into certain actions, with a focus then on the passenger cap and disregarding any and all resident concerns, without due understanding, - deliberately, I believe - to what has taken place in Fingal regarding public consultation, planned take-off and landing routes and noise insulation schemes. At the end of the day, the people living here are airport people. They work in the airport and want it to thrive. They want the airport to operate in an honest, open and transparent manner and for it to engage with residents in such a way.

I hope that the Minister for Transport, Deputy O’Brien, who shares my constituency, will not give in to such transparent tactics from Mr. O’Leary and others in the aviation industry when they try to force their all planes, any planes, all day, any night approach to Dublin Airport. There is a lot of strong local opinion and experience on this issue. The Minister, Deputy O’Brien, will have received many of the same emails that I and my colleagues in the Chamber have received. The setting-up of ANCA and its functioning over the past five years have never persuaded local residents that it is the right setup for the monitoring aircraft noise.

I reiterate that this Bill is not designed to solve the many problems. Rather, it is just to put right a structural mistake made by the former Minister, Mr. Shane Ross, when he put the responsibility for aircraft noise under Fingal County Council. I hope the Government will support this pro-health, pro-community Bill and that we can move towards having a more modern, sophisticated and health-based approach to aircraft and aviation noise.

See this speech in context