Sir, – Recent Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) statements would have us believe that the new north runway at Dublin airport is a strategic piece of infrastructure that is vital to the continued expansion of the Irish economy and will enable the airport to contribute €9.8 billion in gross value added and facilitates130000 jobs in Ireland. in reality, the North runway seems to be a speculative commercial project and, according to DAA’s website, is intended to capture long-haul transit passengers from the Far East, North and South America and Africa before another airport grabs them.
Indeed, the fact that the north runway was belatedly lengthened to facilitate the movement of large long-haul aircraft supports the speculative thesis.
This is all very well and good in itself if the financial, environmental, and society aspects of the project stand up to scrutiny and provide a positive financial outcome. Unfortunately, this is far from being the case.
When DAA decided to proceed with the north runway in 2016 after the delay caused by the economic downturn of 2008, the primary environmental concern worldwide was climate change. Ireland had recently signed the Paris Climate Change Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5 Celsius and reduce carbon emissions by 51 per cent by 2030.
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Yet according to the DAA website fuel deliveries to Dublin Airport and carbon emissions from the airport, will increase by 126 per cent in 2030.
The Government’s cavalier attitude towards their commitments under the Paris Climate Change Agreement should be explained to the public.
Another bizarre aspect of the project is the very low amount, ¤20,000 each that DAA proposes to grant to 300 houses in the vicinity of the airport for noise insulation; a meagre total of €6 million.
A quick look at the number of houses in the noise zone, 5000, and the cost of providing a professionally designed noise insulation system with automatic ventilation, triple glazed windows, good-quality insulation and temporary accommodation for the residents while the work is carried out, ¤100,000 euro per house, amounts to a total of €500 million.
There are so many other irrational aspects to the North runway project, a runway to add to the south runway, the cross-wind runway and the abandoned runway that is used to park aircraft, that in any future reappraisal of the planning laws, the process by which the necessity for an additional runway at Dublin Airport was determined, should be included. – Yours, etc,
PATRICK KEENAN,
Portmarnock,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – A number of your correspondents over the last few days have suggested that the new runway at Dublin Airport should not have been built for climate reasons.
In reality, the addition of a new runway will actually reduce emissions, as planes will spend less time waiting in a holding pattern both on the ground and in the air.
A limit on the number of flights permitted may well be sensible given the targets we face, especially those operated by older and more polluting aircraft, but that is an entirely separate discussion for the powers that be. – Yours, etc,
RICHARD BANNISTER,
Kildare,
Co Kildare.