Joe O'Brien - Green Party
We need an expanded airport noise insulation scheme
7th October, 2019
The recent public consultations by Fingal County Council related to airport development have made it very clear that a much wider cohort of the residents of Fingal will be adversely impacted by the noise of the air traffic using the new runway. I estimate about 15,000 people in across areas of Swords, Malahide and Portmarnock will be impacted. These are people living in what is being described as Noise Zone C (Shown in green in the map).
What is clear from the recent consultations is that planned new homes in Noise Zone C will need to show evidence of adequate noise insulation. However, if you are already living in this zone you currently do not have access to a noise insulation or grant.
I am calling for a new and wider noise insulation scheme for impacted residents. People living in Noise Zone C will be subjected to noise levels of between 48 to 55 decibels at night time. The World Health Organisation has been clear that this level of noise can have adversely impacts on people’s health, especially young and old people.
This is about the health and well being of families is Fingal so that’s a priority for me. The fact is that Dublin Airport Authority made a profit of €133m last year and €40m of this belongs to the public via the dividend that the State received as a shareholder. There are funds there to start such a scheme but perhaps not the political will at the moment. The Local Area Plan is supposed to safeguard the wellbeing of residents, so I think it’s important that Fingal County Council takes responsibility for this issue.
