DAA criticised over response to Dublin Airport noise complaints

A local group says Dublin Airport operator DAA will not consider proposed changes to flight paths that the organisation maintains have sparked multiple complaints from nearby residents.

DAA and locals have clashed over flight paths from the north runway since it opened in 2022, with residents complaining about noise and other issues.

One of the organisations involved, the North Runway Technical Group (NRTG), said on Monday that DAA has told the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport that it will not consider its proposal to tackle the problems.

However, the airport’s company responded that it was in talks with the State’s legally designated air traffic control authority, AirNav Ireland, and other agencies, to determine how it could run a consultation to resolve the issues.

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A letter from DAA chief executive Kenny Jacobs, to Senator Gerry Horkan, the joint committee’s chairman, says an AirNav review of how Rome’s Fiumicino Airport tackled similar problems confirmed that “there are a wide range of factors that must be considered”.

A DAA spokeswoman said that proposals from local groups, which may run contrary to each other, needed to be considered in a structured coherent manner, and not in isolation.

She added that the talks with AirNav and the other agencies would “provide scope to further explore other suggestions and community proposals in respect to flight paths”.

NRTG, whose members include pilots, engineers and technically qualified individuals, says the flight paths unnecessarily send aircraft over 30,000 people, sparking complaints to Fingal and Meath county councils, An Bord Pleanála and the DAA itself.

The group wants Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan, to appoint directors to DAA’s board that are qualified in infrastructure development, engineering and aviation and make them responsible for the company’s performance in these areas.

Dublin Airport is already at the centre of a row over the capping of passengers at 32 million per year. Earlier this month the regulator moved to limit passenger numbers during the winter months to 14.4 million as a result of the restriction, which has been heavily criticised by airlines.

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