The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) have published new flight paths from Dublin Airport which will come into effect from February 23rd.
The new routes will see some communities face increasing aircraft noise while others will see the situation improve.
The areas likely to see an increase in noise are Coolquay and Oldtown with Rolestown and the area direcly south likely to see a reduction in noise. It is not clear yet how the changes will impact on other areas which saw increases such as Ballyboughal, Kilsallaghan, and South Swords.
The new routes no longer allow aircraft to take a 75-degree deviation on take-off. There were the routes that travelled directly from the North Runway to Rolestown before turning towards their destination.
The new routes now require aircraft to turn 30 degrees from take off and travel to Coolquay where the routes split with UK traffic going due northwest of Oldtown and flights going south and to the USA continuing towards Rathoath before turning to their destination.
The new Standard Instrument Departures (SIDs) also include speed limits on route of 210 knots between various points.
Commenting on the new routes, Cllr Ian Carey said:
“What will coming into effect from February is still not complying with planning and should face continued enforcement proceedings. It does not comply with the 2007 application or the more recent change.
“What is particularly objectionable is the increased noise this will bring to the rural village of Coolquay. Rather than plot a route five degrees in either direction they have chosen to plough a route straight through an area designated for housing. There is currently a planning application for more than 150 homes in this area and yet this move could see that land involved moved into Noise Zone A – which would mean development is not allowed in this area. For this to happen during a housing crisis this is totally unacceptable. It’s not clear whether the people developing these routes took 5 minutes to consider the impact on the future of the local community. The new route will also bring a significant increase in noise to a local primary school with a number of classes for children with autism.
“While we can estimate the impact of noise from the new routes, no analysis has been done that would give any clarity to the people about to be impacted by the increase in noise. There has also been no public consultation on these changes which will have a big environmental impact. This is clearly in breach of Ireland’s commitments under the Aarhus Convention.”
