Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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Unlike the previous small local issue in which the Minister said he hd limited direct involvement, this is a major issue for which he has sole responsibility. To say his decision to appoint Fingal County Council as the competent authority under EU Regulation 598/2014 has caused consternation is probably an understatement. There is uproar in the community. People certainly did not see this one coming because of the very obvious conflict of interest.

The regulation was intended to be the mechanism for the independent regulation of aviation noise designed to protect communities from that intrusion. In order to transpose it, a competent authority had to be established to monitor such levels. It is important because the Dublin Airport Authority, DAA, has made it abundantly clear that once the body is established, it will use it in order to try to overturn the two restrictions in place on the new runway and night time flights. This is of vital importance to the surrounding community which does not resist construction of the runway per sebut is asking that the terms and conditions on which permission was granted all those years ago when we were not as knowledgeable as we are now about the damage caused by aviation noise to the health and well-being of surrounding residents be upheld. Even then, almost ten years ago, these conditions were imposed and the DAA has made no secret of the fact that it wants the restrictions to be lifted. The local community thinks the idea of appointing Fingal County Council which gave the DAA the original permission without restrictions is absurd. Not only that but 20% of the rates income of Fingal County Council comes from the DAA. The council is renowned for its deferential relationship with the DAA, given the enormous value of the DAA to the surrounding community. The idea of the council being able to be impartial against that backdrop seems crazy to residents.

It is ironic that the original choice, the Irish Aviation Authority, IAA, was broadly accepted by the community. It has an international reputation for excellence and is highly technical in its assessment of this issue. While it manages air traffic at Irish airports, there is no profit in it for it. Its money comes from overflights, not use of the runway. There is much less of a conflict of interest with the IAA which has the required experience.

I think I speak for the representatives from all of the parties who attended the briefing the Minister organised last week on this decision when I say we could not get our heads around the justification given by the Department, that the Minister was looking for an organisation that had expertise in making environmental impact assessments and dealing with noise and aviation issues. With no disrespect to anybody in Fingal County Council, at a stretch, we might grant it the first one, but there is certainly no basis for the idea that it has expertise in dealing with noise and aviation issues, yet it has a clear conflict of interest. The Minister needs to revisit this issue, go back to the drawing board and reconsider the IAA as the competent authority under the regulation.

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this question and I am glad that it is being raised in the House, particularly after the briefing given to all of the spokespersons last week. I know that the Deputy will understand it has been a very difficult journey dogged by legal problems for nearly two years which has led us to this conclusion, with which I am happy. It was not easy because there will be people who, no matter who is appointed as the competent authority, will say this is the wrong one and that we should have appointed a different one, not least the lawyers, certainly Deputies and others. That is understandable, which is why this is a useful debate. I am happy now, having listened to the Attorney General, the IAA and others, that this is the correct appointment.

I have made several contributions in the House on this matter over the course of the past 12 months or so, particularly in response to questions posed by Deputies Clare Daly and Robert Troy. As the Deputy knows, the EU noise regulation, Regulation 598/2014, establishes a set of common rules and procedures to deal with noise issues at major airports within all EU member states. We do not have any option but to appoint a competent authority because of the EU regulation. As the Deputy mentioned, it was previously proposed that the IAA would be designated noise regulator for the purposes of Regulation 598/2014. However, as I explained in the Dáil before Christmas, when this approach was subject to final legal review, it was found to be impracticable in the light of emerging EU case law. It was as much a surprise for us as it was for the Deputy. Specifically, the advices were that the IAA would be conflicted, given its direct commercial interests in traffic growth at Dublin Airport. Offseting these conflicts would have required the establishment of a noise regulation unit within the IAA that would have had to be wholly separate from the parent organisation in terms of resourcing, recruitment, performance management and human resources management.

This was considered wholly unworkable and clearly against corporate governance best practice. Having re-examined the matter as to how best to implement the EU Regulation fully, Fingal County Council, with An Bord Pleanála as an independent appeals body, was considered the best way forward. Fingal already has responsibilities under an EU noise directive, which covers non-airport noise, and it has experience and expertise in environmental impact assessments and in managing extensive public consultations. There are quite a lot of synergies already and so it makes sense to give it responsibility for airport noise regulation.

Unquestionably, Fingal will have to build some additional expert capacity and so the draft legislation will provide for additional funding to provide for this. The Government has endorsed this proposed course of action and I now intend to get on with implementing it. There are challenges. This regulation has already proven quite a complex provision to transfer and align with existing Irish planning and development arrangements. Indeed, on my instruction, as the Deputy has already alluded to, departmental officials met the Deputy and a number of other Members of this House last week to hear their views, concerns and also to talk over the complexities and challenges. It is so important that the runway goes ahead, that we have a competent authority and that we involve anybody in this House and others outside in the decision-making process. As I understand it, that engagement was constructive and it has been agreed to have follow-up engagement with the Members. I hope the Deputy will attend those follow-up engagements. My Department and I are sensitive to concerns raised and are willing to find an agreed way through these if at all possible. It is my intention to publish a draft Bill as soon as possible. Doing so is a priority. It will set out precisely how the new regulator will operate in accordance with Regulation 598/2014. There will be plenty of opportunity for examination of the proposals as the Bill comes through the House. I welcome them starting with pre-legislative scrutiny at the Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport, which will be attended by many Members and which can also be attended by others, including the Deputy.

Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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I acknowledge that it has been a difficult journey, not least for the Minister because he is in a very difficult position. The reality is that a previous Attorney General gave a diametrically opposed view on this issue to the one we currently have. Previously, we were told that the Irish Aviation Authority, IAA, was the best organisation for the job and that a statutory instrument was sufficient to bring it into law. Now we hear that there is a conflict of interest in the IAA and we need primary legislation. We welcome the fact that there will be primary legislation but one of the purposes of this discussion is to tell the Minister in no uncertain terms that he will never sell Fingal County Council as an independent competent authority on these issues and it is best that we address those issues now rather than wasting even more time in dealing with this in the future. Fingal Organised Residents United Movement, a community organisation that has been very vocal on this issue, has said that it wants to see Dublin Airport prosper and increased connectivity and has no wish to stop the development of the northern runway but it believes there needs to be a totally independent body. The problem with the Minister's response is that it does not stack up to analysis because an independent body within the IAA is not wholly unworkable. It already exists in terms of other areas like safety. There are two independent bodies operating under the umbrella of the IAA. It is entirely possible to set this up. The IAA does not benefit financially from planes landing at the airport. It mainly makes its profits from overflights so the conflict of interest is far less than it would be for Fingal County Council, which gets 20% of its rates from the DAA which has a disproportionate influence on development in that county and to which the council gave the go-ahead years ago without the conditions on night-time restricted flights, the retention of which is so important for the local community so that the airport can be a good neighbour.

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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I think it is unfair, or most unusual, of the Deputy to suggest that a local authority is conflicted in its role with regard to its statutory environmental protection and enforcement responsibilities and wider economic and physical development roles. As the Deputy knows, local authorities already have a wide range of statutorily based regulatory and enforcement functions relating to environmental quality, planning enforcement and other areas which necessarily sit alongside their rateable income and property tax collection functions. This is how local authorities operate. Assigning Fingal County Council as the airport noise regulator is wholly aligned with that very long-established multifunctional role played by all local authorities. Importantly, it will also be subject to independent appeal. We must not forget that it will not be acting completely on its own. An Bord Pleanála will be sitting there to hear appeals in all cases of noise regulation and it cannot be considered to have a conflict of interest. I understand the Deputy's point of view. I know that whoever we appoint will come under scrutiny, particularly from the lawyers. Obviously, the IAA came across legal problems. I know that this one will rightly come under scrutiny from Deputies and other Members. This is why we have involved and will involve Deputies in as wide an engagement as possible on this and why we will do everything to ensure that their wishes are listened to and indeed adhered to and consented to by the Government so that we get the best possible result.