James Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am as interested in people's health and their hearing being protected as anybody else. I thank Senator Devine for her contribution. She is known to be interested in mental health and she knows that mental health does not thrive when people lose their jobs. I am not purely focused on economic activity rather on a balanced approach that allows a regulator - and we are not speaking to the amendments around the new regulator, so I will not go there - set what are realistic, practical, pragmatic and safe levels, given the technology we have, without going to the extreme of going on one specific piece of information from guidelines from the WHO, for which I have nothing but the highest admiration. The WHO itself speaks to the thin spread of information around this, which for much of the time is subjective and that is a fact, nonetheless a very disturbing one for those who suffer from that fact. We have to have a balanced approach. We will have some people who will be very happy and thousands of jobs will be lost. It is not a case of either-or; we need a balanced approach that allows the new regulator to be appointed to address all of these issues and ensures that we as a Government and a people, nationally and internationally, encourage the development of quieter aircraft and better insulation in houses etc.

A point made by Senator Norris with which I agree is that it does seem astounding that people are granted planning permission to build houses within the contour that is known to be a very high noise area. The contour by the way has been reduced considerably in recent years by the fact that aeroplanes have become considerably quieter in the past 40 years.