Dublin Airport (Passenger Capacity) Bill 2026: Second Stage Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-01 ============================================================ Lorraine Clifford-Lee (FF), Nominated by the Taoiseach I thank the Minister of State for coming to discuss this important legislation. He will be aware that I use every opportunity I get to advocate for the communities of north County Dublin and tonight is no different. I am a member of the Joint Committee on Transport. I sat through the pre-legislative scrutiny and heard all the witnesses the Minister of State spoke about. We had a thorough examination of this Bill. First, I put on the record that I support the airport. I support the jobs the airport generates for the local community in north County Dublin and for the country, but I also support the communities there. It is about gathering the stakeholders, as the Minister of State said, and striking the right balance. Dublin Airport is an important piece of national infrastructure and a large employer in north County Dublin and many ancillary businesses are dependent on the airport. It is vital for our connectivity as a nation. However, we need to look at it in the context of where it is, its development and supporting the communities that live around it. The flight paths currently operating contrary to the planning permission granted for the northern runway need to be sorted out. They are affecting communities in Ballyboughal, Lusk, Coolquoy, Kilsallaghan and Kilcoskan. Since August 2022 when the northern runway opened, the children of Kilcoskan National School have been unable to learn in peace and quiet because these flight paths are being operated illegally. It is completely unacceptable. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, stated on Second Stage in the Dáil that an independent assessment would take place at the appropriate time. When will that appropriate time be? There was some suggestion it would be when a final decision has been made about the night-time flights to get a more accurate assessment of the noise impacts. However, I would like the Minister of State to find out when that independent assessment will take place because this has been going on for almost four years and it is a difficult situation for people who find themselves under a flight path and have built houses and got planning permission to do so specifically because they were away from the flight path. Suddenly, the DAA started to fly aeroplanes over them. I will also make reference to the voluntary dwelling purchase scheme, which needs to be improved. The families who qualify - and we are talking about a relatively small number of people - are in an impossible situation because they want to be able to replace the houses they have. If they give up their houses and move from the area, they want to get replacement houses, but the valuations and offers being made are below the amount that would buy a house locality. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, has said improvements to the voluntary dwelling buy-out scheme have to happen, but when will they happen? People entered the assessment phase of it because they were coming up against a hard deadline in August. That deadline has been extended, which is good and I welcome it, but we still do not know when the improvements to the scheme will take place. People have been living in a terrible limbo for all these years, trying to deal with it, trying to get a fair deal. These are people who have lived in the area for generations, who fought the Battle of Ashbourne for our independence. They are very entwined with the local community so it is a big thing to ask them to leave it. They need to be relatively close to where they are living at the moment so they can continue to live their lives. We need to get a better scheme up and running for them as soon as possible. They need to be able to get an equivalent home. The good neighbour principle must be adhered to at all times. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, also referred to this in the Dáil. It has not been the case and that is regrettable. There is a new chair of the board of the DAA, Mr. Gary Owens, and I look forward to working collaboratively with him to solve some of these issues. I hope a good approach will be made to the local communities and local representatives. We are awaiting the appointment of a new CEO and again I hope the attitude will improve because the good neighbour principle has certainly not been adhered to well in recent years. I look forward to working with the new CEO when she or he is appointed, and with the board, the executive and the local communities. I have been speaking to the local communities since my very first days in public office, for well over ten years. It is the same issues. The people living there have been facing intolerable situations over a prolonged period. I live in the vicinity of Dublin Airport. I absorb the airport noise as well. We all appreciate the airport and many good things about it, but we need to come to a solution. It cannot operate in a vacuum with residents' rights being trampled on constantly. We need to look at funding for community-led initiatives and the DAA needs to step up to the plate substantially in relation to that, particularly for the planning for real community plan for St. Margaret's and the Ward. It is an excellent and realistic plan. A lot of time and effort by the local residents went into developing this plan and the DAA needs to be a good neighbour and step in to work closely with the communities to deliver it, along with the Minister and the Government as a whole. The independent assessment of noise is needed promptly. As I said, a public consultation is currently under way about the northern runway flight path, which will conclude in approximately 11 weeks, but we need one on the noise levels as well. I would like the Minister of State to bring that point back to the Minister. It is a point I have made several times to him and I hope there will be action when this Bill passes. We need, at all times, to keep in mind the health impacts of prolonged noise, particularly noise at night. That is what the residents in north County Dublin have been facing. I have been working with stakeholders and I am a resident of north County Dublin and a neighbour of Dublin Airport. All these issues are ones I am experiencing. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, has met various stakeholders. He engaged positively with the Committee on Transport and I am hopeful we will see resolution of many of these issues. We understand the airport cap needs to be lifted, but it cannot be done in a vacuum. I will not stand in the way of the airport cap being lifted, but I certainly will be standing four-square behind all the local residents for them to get what they deserve once and for all. I would like to touch on a point the Minister of State made when he was talking about the airport cap and its legacy. He said it was a condition imposed when terminal 2 was being developed. He also said there have been significant upgrades to the roads and public transport but that is not the case. The Minister of State can come out with me someday if he wants and I will bring him around the local roads, where he will see the lack of public transport. We are getting the metro but that is some time away. We really need to look at all the other issues there and move forward collectively. I thank the Minister of State for listening to me. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-07-01/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:08+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-07-01