Fingal County Council will write to the Chief Executive of the DAA to seek a meeting with councillors over the way Dublin Airport is operating the North Runway.
A motion, from Cllr Ann Graves, calling for a meeting to be set up between the DAA and Fingal councillors got the backing of all councillors at a meeting of the county council on Monday.
The call comes on the back of public outcry at the way flight paths off the new North Runway have been diverging north across communities in Fingal.
This has caused major noise increases across areas which were not expecting such severe impact from the new runway.
The St Margaret’s The Ward Residents Group have described the operations as ‘illegal’ because they do not adhere to the 2007 planning conditions which still apply to the airport until the new planning conditions come into force.
It is also not clear if the current operations adhere to the new planning conditions as the scenarios presented in documentation do not appear to take account of the obvious divergent routes being used by aircraft off the new runway.
Commenting on this Cllr Ian Carey said:
“The way the new runway is being used has caused massive upset and anger across Fingal.
“Despite the plans and consultation over noise maps and projected impacts, the way the aircraft are flying has surprised so many people. Areas that were expecting occasional or low impact are being hit with really substantial levels of noise.
“The airport have not been straight with people about the areas that are being worst hit by noise. The maps are not matching up with what people are experiencing on the ground and that is not acceptable.
“It is also unclear whether the airport is currently sticking to the 2007 planning conditions relating to the opening of the North Runway, which should be in place as the revised planning conditions have not come into force.
“Through all of this change and uncertainty the DAA have refused to meet with local communities to explain what is happening. They have refused to convene a special meeting of the Community Liaisaon Group to discuss this matter. That group is the official stakeholder group between the airport and the local community.
“This make it all the more useful to have the newly appointed Chief Executive of the DAA to come before local representatives to give an account of what has been happening and answer the concerns of the community.”
