Residents from St Margarets, Coolquay, Oldtown and Swords, gathered in the Coolquay Lodge this week to discuss the continued breach of planning permission by Dublin Airport.
The group heard how legal action is being taken to challenge the continued use of flight paths which have no planning permission. They encouraged people to submit their experiences of the noise from the illegal flight paths by affidavit in the legal case.
The meeting heard from Swords residents who questioned what could be done to reduce the impact particularly in South Swords.
Area such as Ridgewood, Boroimhe, Rivervalley and Holywell, have seen a significant increase in noise since the opening of the North Runway.
A similar meeting is being planned for Swords to bring together various groups to campaign for action from the DAA to reduce noise on the Swords area. Details of the meeting will be finalised shortly.
Cllr Ian Carey said:
“Dublin Airport totally disregarding our laws around planning is appalling and needs to stop – but it was heartening to see so many people coming together on this issue in Coolquay this week.
“So many people right across North County Dublin are feeling the impact of the increase in aircraft noise and South Swords is feeling the increase.
“It would be wrong to think that there is nothing the airport can do to reduce noise in Swords. When it comes to mitigating the impact of noise on Swords the airport haven’t even tried.
“Simple measures such as noise barriers, which are used in many other airports, could help reduce the noise from take-offs in South Swords by 10-12db. This would be a real noticeable difference yet this approach is being dismissed by the DAA.
“The airport could also significantly reduce the noise impact in Swords by using a ‘mixed mode’ approach between the North and South Runways. This means some air traffic would take off from the South Runway as well as the North and spread the impact.
“It is not clear why the DAA are not doing this already but it seems that they may be doing it to create a “less complex ATC environment” at Dublin Airport. To put that in simple terms, making life easier for air traffic controllers at the expense of the health and well-being of people in Swords.”
