The High Court yesterday rejected Aer Rianta's objection to the development of a long-term car-park for 3,500 vehicles on a site near Dublin Airport.
The site was said to contain four poles of a lighting system for a nearby airport runway.
Aer Rianta had challenged An Bord Pleanála's grant of planning permission to Gannon Homes Ltd of Killorglin House, Shelbourne Road, Dublin, for the development on lands at Turnapin Great, Swords Road (old airport road) Santry, Co Dublin.
In granting the permission, Aer Rianta claimed An Bord Pleanála had erred in law in failing to have proper regard to the provisions of the Fingal County Council development plan and in particular to the status of the red (safety) areas in the plan.
Rejecting those arguments in a reserved judgment yesterday, Mr Justice Kelly said Aer Rianta had opposed the permission on the grounds that the site was within the red zone approach to a runway at Dublin Airport.
Aer Rianta had claimed the proposed car-park would be in an area at the end of a runway slip where development was restricted in the interests of the safety of aircraft passengers and public. The development was about 300m from the end of the runway.
The judge said the permission was a temporary one, to last for five years only. Neither the planning authority nor An Bord Pleanála appeared to have considered the development a material contravention of the 1999 Fingal County development plan.
The site and airport were included in an area to be the subject of a long-term development study, including a proposed light rail line traversing a section of the site.
He was not satisfied Aer Rianta had made out a case to show that the permission constituted a material contravention of the development plan. The judge added that the board's senior inspector had noted that the Irish Aviation Authority, responsible for the safety of aircraft, did not object.
The inspector had noted there would be a certain hazard to the public being brought to a car-park located under a flight path, but that the hazard did not appear to be significant.
Public roads and other developments were commonly located under flight paths and the protected areas of runways, the judge said.
There was, in fact, a public road between this site and the nearby runway.
He found no evidence that An Bord Pleanála had failed to have regard to Aer Rianta's observations on the safety topic. The fact that the board came to a conclusion which did not please Aer Rianta was not a basis for judicial intervention, Mr Justice Kelly added.