Fingal County Council has been permitted by a judge to enter lands in North County Dublin and ascertain their suitability as rubbish dumps.
Judge Elizabeth Dunne in the Circuit Civil Court yesterday overturned a decision of the District Court refusing the council access for surveying purposes to proposed landfill sites near Skerries, south Balbriggan, Lusk-Ballyboughal and Naul.
A number of groups objecting to the dumps in their areas, which are within a seven mile "restricted zone" of Dublin airport, had highlighted the potential danger to aircraft taking off and landing.
They had argued that Fingal County Council, before exercising its powers of entering the lands, had to first carry out all non-invasive studies or inquiries and had not done so as a study of bird movement had not been completed.
Judge Dunne, who heard the appeal last month, told Mr Dermot Flanagan SC, who appeared with Mr John Doherty for Fingal County Council, that it was clear the risk of bird strikes was a significant hazard to aircraft.
However, the question of whether scavenging birds were attracted to landfill sites or not, and what measures must be taken in that event, could not be an issue in deciding if the land was suitable for use as a landfill site.
Accordingly she was not satisfied that a bird study was a necessary prerequisite of entry onto the lands. A spokesman for Fingal County Council said Judge Dunne's decision did not automatically mean there would be landfill sites in the areas concerned.