Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 221: To ask the Minister for Transport if the red zones relating to Dublin Airport and contained in the Fingal County Development Plan 1999 are two dimensional ground zones or three dimensional surfaces in the sky; if the latter, will he outline the slope of each such approach surface; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8253/05]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I refer the Deputy to a reply to Questions Nos. 340 to 345, inclusive, answered on 18 November 2003 which includes information relating to the approach surfaces of the runways at Dublin Airport.

As I have mentioned in previous replies to the House on 1 July 2003, the present red zones at Dublin Airport were formally established in 1968. I understand that the red zones at Cork and Shannon were drawn up around the same time. The then Department of Transport and Power was originally responsible for proposing the establishment of the zones, which were approved and incorporated in the local authorities' development plans, and development within those red zones is controlled by the local authorities through the Planning Acts.

I should at this point describe for the Deputy precisely what the red zones are, and how they differ from public safety zones and protected areas. International civil aviation operates under the 1944 Chicago Convention, which is administered by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, CAO. Annex 14 of the convention, which prescribes standards for aerodromes, recommends that certain pathways through the air on approaches to runways should be clear of obstacles at certain heights, depending on how far away they are from the runway. These are known as "obstacle clearance surfaces", and are imaginary slopes in the air extending away from the ends of runways. They were designed for the protection of aircraft taking off and landing, as an aid to safe navigation. If those slopes in the air are, on a map, projected onto the ground, they form a trapezoid shape, with the narrow base at the end of the runway.

Those shapes have been coloured red on maps for ease of identification, and have therefore been known as red zones. The present dimensions of the red zones were established in 1968, and were notified to the local authorities on whose land the State airports are situated. While the width of the red zones was the same as the projection onto the ground of the obstacle limitation surfaces, the length of the red zones was delineated by the officials of the then Department of Transport and Power at specific distances from the runway, which varied by runway orientation, by airport, and by projected air traffic density.

In delineating the length of the red zones in particular, the then Department was seeking to assist the local authorities to have regard to the dimension of public safety in the vicinity of the airports, namely, the safety of people on the ground, living or working underneath an approaching or departing aircraft. In Ireland, as elsewhere, these zones have been used as a basis for restricting development to limit the numbers of people on the ground who may be killed or injured by a crashing aircraft.

Public safety zones are different, in that they are zones that are specifically designed with a view to protecting the public on the ground, and they have a substantially different size and shape from "red zones. Public safety is not covered by an ICAO standard. The Department of Transport, in conjunction with the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, commissioned consultants to make recommendations for such public safety zones in the vicinity of Cork, Dublin and Shannon Airports. The recommendations of the consultants, ERM, specifically deal with the risk to people on the ground, and make use of the latest techniques in risk assessment. That study is now complete, and was formally presented to myself and the Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government on 30 September 2003. In preparing their report, the consultants engaged in a comprehensive public consultation, including holding public meetings in Cork, Dublin and Shannon during the summer.

The intention now is that the Department for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government will issue planning guidelines based on the public safety zones identified in the consultants' report to the local authorities to assist them in their consideration of the public safety aspects of planning applications in the vicinity of airports.

I should, of course, also point out that the obstacle clearance surfaces are not affected by the report by ERM. Those surfaces will continue to be a matter for the IAA, who will be responsible solely for advising the planning authorities in relation to the aviation operational safety implications associated with particular proposals or planning applications. In future it will be a matter for the IAA to modify, if it sees fit and acting on ICAO advice, the geometry or dimensions of the obstacle clearance surfaces themselves.

Regarding protected areas, section 14 of the Air Navigation and Transport Act 1950 empowers the Minister to make an order to declare that a particular piece of land in the vicinity of an aerodrome was to be a protected area, if the unrestricted use of that land would interfere with the navigation of aircraft.

Of the three terms, red zone, public safety zone and protected area, only the red zones are three-dimensional surfaces in the sky, in so far as they are used to protect the safe navigation of aircraft. In so far as the red zones, as projected onto maps, have been used in the past for public safety purposes, they are two-dimensional surfaces on the ground. Both public safety zones and protected areas are two dimensional surfaces on the ground.

I am advised by the IAA, that the slope of the first section of the approach surface, which forms part of the obstacle limitation surfaces, as defined in chapter 4 of annex 14 to the Chicago Convention, for runway 10-28 at Dublin Airport is 2%. The maximum height of an object beneath the approach surface, to avoid infringing the surface, is a function of the threshold elevation and the ground elevation of the site. Without knowing the ground elevation at a particular position, it is not possible to determine the maximum permissible height of a construction. I am advised by the IAA that the respective sizes of the first section of the obstacle surface on the approach to the runways at Dublin Airport, with particular reference to inner and outer widths, slope, divergence and length, are as follows:

In relation to each of the 11 locations at Dublin Airport where buildings lie within the red safety areas, as I indicated in answer to a parliamentary question on 4 July 2001, Aer Rianta or the Fingal planning authority will be in a position to provide the Deputy with any information he may require in relation to this.

Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 222: To ask the Minister for Transport, further to Question No. 351 of 15 February 2005, the details of the extensions to runways 06-24 and 13-31 inclusive of proposed lengths and confirmation regarding the end of each runway to which such extensions were proposed; if the said scheme also outlined appropriate restrictions on runways 05-23 and 18-36; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8254/05]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I understand that the scheme referred to by the Deputy which was prepared in the late 1960s, envisaged restrictions relating to runways 05/23 and 18/36 for the purposes of air safety. The further details requested by the Deputy are now the responsibility of the Dublin Airport Authority, formerly Aer Rianta.

Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 223: To ask the Minister for Transport, further to Question No. 352 of 15 February 2005, the level of maximum movements used by ERM to determine the various public safety zones outlined in the said draft report in respect of each end of runways 10-28, 16-34 and 11-29; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8255/05]

Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 224: To ask the Minister for Transport, further to Question No. 353 of 15 February 2005, the level of maximum movements used by ERM to determine the various public safety zones outlined in the said draft report in respect of each end of runways 17/35 and 07/25 at Cork Airport as well as each end of runways 06/24 and 13/31 at Shannon Airport; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8256/05]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 223 and 224 together.

Following consideration by the Government, the final public safety zones report is now available on my Department's website. All of the details used in calculating the sizes of the zones are included in the report. I am arranging to have a copy of the report placed in the Oireachtas Library.