Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Question 389: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the regulations in place to control noise pollution arising from the staging of motor car rally or racing events in proximity to residential areas; the means available to residents who object to the noise generated and wish to make a formal complaint; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9180/11]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Under section 230 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 and Part 16 of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001, a licence is required in respect of holding an event at which the audience comprises 5,000 or more people. An applicant for a licence is required, within the period of two weeks before applying for a licence, to publish a notice of his or her intention to submit an application in one local and one national newspaper. The notice must give details regarding the event to be held, including the anticipated number of the audience at the proposed event.

The licence application must be accompanied by a draft plan for the management of the event, including a draft site emergency plan; a draft traffic management plan; a draft safety strategy statement; and a draft environment monitoring programme for before, during and after the proposed event. Any person may make a submission or observation about the application to the local authority, which must consult with the Gardaí and the HSE in relation to the application, and may also invite submissions from other persons or convene any meetings or consultations it considers appropriate.

In considering an application for a licence under this section, the local authority must have regard to a number of matters, including any submissions or observations made to it in accordance with the Regulations, any consultations it has undertaken and the matters which may be the subject of conditions attached to the licence. The local authority may decide to grant the licence, grant the licence subject to such conditions as it considers appropriate or refuse the licence. Conditions subject to which a licence is granted may include the avoidance or minimisation of disruption to the neighbourhood in which the event is to take place.

Outdoor events with a proposed attendance below the threshold of 5,000 persons are not subject to a licence as set out above. However, such events have been successfully managed by some local authorities using section 107 of the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992. A local authority may specify conditions and restrictions as part of a Section 107 notice served under the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992 in order to prevent persons in the neighbourhood being unreasonably disturbed by noise caused by an event.

In addition, under section 108 of the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992, it is open to any person, or group of persons, to seek an order in the District Court to have noise giving reasonable cause for annoyance abated. The procedures involved have been simplified to allow action to be taken without legal representation. A public information leaflet outlining the legal avenues available to persons experiencing noise nuisance is available to download from my Department's website, www.environ.ie

As set out in section 7 of the leaflet, a person who is alleged to have caused a noise nuisance can put forward a "good defence" in Court if they can prove they took all reasonable care to prevent or limit the noise by using facilities, practices and methods of operation that are suitable for that purpose. Complying with the conditions of a planning permission or a section 107 notice may be taken into account by the Court in this regard.