Call for Dublin Airport flight path solution 

DUBLIN Airport Authority (daa) has been accused of failing to consider a flight path solution to issues connected with the North Runway.  

Since the runway opened in August 2022 residents of several different north Dublin areas say they are being negatively impacted by the noise levels.  

This is despite some of them living over 10km away from the airport.   

One such resident is Gareth O’Brien who lives in Ashbourne and is a member of the North Runway Technical Group (NRTG), a small group of aviation people who live between 4km and 12km north of the new runway at Dublin Airport.  

Mr O’Brien, who is a pilot and civil engineer, told Northside People that the group are very concerned about the future of the airport.   

“The flight paths in use from Dublin’s north runway unnecessarily overfly 30,000 people outside the zone defined in daa’s own Environmental Impact Statement,” he said.  

“This has caused multiple complaints to Fingal Co Co, Meath Co Co and An Board Pleanála as well as to daa itself and continues to hurt daa’s ability to get planning permission to raise the 32M passenger cap.  

“We believe daa has for years been too focused on running the shopping centre in the terminals and has neglected everything else.   

“We are deeply concerned that the future of the airport we depend on will continue to be at risk until the board and executives take seriously daa’s role as the developer and operator of the whole airport.”  

North runway which opened in 2022

O’Brien says the NRTG group is now calling for Transport Minister Eamon Ryan to appoint directors to the daa board with “relevant qualifications and experience” in each of infrastructure development, engineering/environment and aviation and to make them individually responsible for the company’s performance in those areas.   

“At a meeting with Kenny Jacobs in October 2023,” O Brien says.  

“I asked the CEO, “Knowing you will need the 32 million passenger cap raised, why would you choose to create 30,000 opponents out of people you don’t need to overfly?”   

“That question remains unanswered.   

“We believe the future development of Dublin Airport will be glacial as every single step is heavily scrutinized and drags through the planning process.  

“North Runway Technical Group has provided workable solutions to daa which Kenny Jacobs refuses to consider.  

“We are a group of pilots, commercial and private, along with engineers and others with various technical qualifications.   

“Members of the group depend on Dublin Airport for their livelihood.   

“The NRTG group formed to examine the non-compliant flight paths used by daa for the North Runway and propose a solution that would reduce the harm to the people affected and help secure the future development of the airport.”   

Northside People requested a response to the claims being made in this article from daa and received the following statement from them: 

“daa is very aware that airport operations have an impact on local communities and works hard to minimise this.

“Our job is to operate a major international airport and ensure Ireland has the connectivity it needs with the world. 

“We have to strike a balance between this and the needs of those living close to the airport. That’s always going to be difficult, but we are constantly working to minimise the impact and listen to community feedback. 

“To help monitor aircraft noise, we’ve installed 23 fixed noise monitors and three mobile monitors at locations throughout counties Dublin, Meath and Wicklow.

“These monitors help Dublin Airport to monitor aircraft noise in communities and understand the impact. We have a comprehensive noise insulation scheme which has been offered to more than 200 local residences and delivered to over 160 homes to date.

“This scheme covers full insulation of the eligible homes.  A voluntary buy-out option has also been offered to 38 homeowners in the vicinity of the airport, with six purchases completed so far. We also visit affected people in the community to hear their feedback directly and meet regularly with community groups. 

“We are aware of the views of the group you’ve highlighted and have considered them.

“However, there are a wide range of factors that must be considered in the design of flight paths, and proposals from local groups – which may run contrary to each other – need to be considered in a structured and coherent manner and not in isolation.  

“daa is engaged with AirNav – the authority designated to provide air navigation services at state airports under Irish law – and other relevant agencies to determine how a consultation process could be run in the future.

“This would provide scope to further explore other suggestions and community proposals in respect to flightpaths.

“As part of this, daa is seeking engagement with other airports who have implemented similar consultation processes.

“Our engagement with AirNav and their specialist expertise in this area is well-founded and we stand by their assessments.”