Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In the Ballinasloe area, a number of residents were woken in the early hours of Sunday, 22 June 2020 by a low-flying aircraft. It has now been established that the aircraft belonged to the RVL Group, an English-based firm that specialises in aerial surveys. It was previously reported that the firm had completed survey flights over parts of Westmeath in the early hours of 4 November. Online flight records show that a Cessna 404 Titan registered to RVL Aviation took off from East Midlands Airport near Derby in England at midnight on Sunday, 22 June, and arrived over Lough Ree at 1.45 a.m. The flight passed over south Roscommon, including areas such as Taghmaconnell, Ballyforan, Creggs, Ballinasloe, and parts of County Westmeath. It returned to East Midlands Airport at 6 a.m. I have to say that the incident has annoyed, frightened and upset people. From my perspective, that type of manoeuvre, which upset families and livestock, should not be taking place in the middle of the night. An older man living across from where the aircraft passed over said he was up for most of the night and that the noise was particularly bad between 1 a.m. and 3.20 a.m. The Leader is very good at taking our requests back to the Cabinet, but I am not asking for a Minister to appear. I am asking her to contact the Department for Transport and those who have responsibility for air traffic control, because this type of manoeuvre should not be happening in the middle of the night, unless it is an emergency or there is a situation on the River Shannon that must be dealt with. This sort of flight in the middle of the night is totally unnecessary and it is very concerning for people when it does happen. Thankfully, it does not happen too often.