Dublin Airport (Passenger Capacity) Bill 2026: Committee and Remaining Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-08
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Laura Harmon (LAB), Industrial and Commercial Panel

I will speak to amendment No. 25. I acknowledge that the Minister has said that he acknowledges that the voluntary dwelling purchase scheme could be improved and contact with residents is important. How can that be improved? Who is going to be ultimately responsible for that?
Amendment No. 25 would, at line 22 on page 34, insert a new section, entitled, "Equivalent reinstatement standard for voluntary dwelling purchase scheme". This amendment arises from recommendation No. 15 of the pre-legislative scrutiny report on this Bill by the Joint Committee on Transport. It relates to the voluntary dwelling purchase scheme operated by the DAA, which, as Senators will be aware, offers homeowners in specific areas affected by noise the option to sell their properties to Dublin Airport. As it is currently constituted, the scheme does not represent a fair deal for the families affected. In contrast to the picture sometimes painted in the media, these are not people who have moved to the airport area and chosen to complain and grumble vexatiously. They are families in well-established homesteads who built their homes with full planning permission many decades ago and many families have multiple homes in this area. They have built a community over those decades and as the airport has grown and noise and disruption increased, they have engaged honestly and constructively on the issues. They are people who recognise the importance of the airport as a piece of national infrastructure. They fly abroad, like many other people. They just want a fair deal.
If the Oireachtas is being asked to facilitate future airport growth, it is equally important that those families bearing the greatest impact of that growth are treated fairly and afforded a realistic pathway to move on with their lives. For these families, living conditions have become increasingly difficult as the number of flights has grown. The impact on their lives is easy to imagine. It harms their ability to enjoy their own homes.
When participating in the voluntary dwelling purchase scheme, these families are not engaging with the housing market in the ordinary way. They are not simply choosing to place their homes on the market. They are being asked to leave long-established homes, communities, family support networks and caring arrangements because of the impact of national infrastructure. That is why the principle of equivalent reinstatement, which is at the heart of our amendment No. 25, is so important. Affected families must be properly supported to secure equivalent replacement accommodation and should not be left materially worse off in any way as a consequence. It is important that families who are already going through this scheme are fully supported.
Housing in Ireland has changed vastly, as the Minister knows, since the scheme was originally designed. These families face the same crisis of supply that any buyer in this country faces. The voluntary buyout scheme has not been meaningfully updated since 2016 and does not reflect current property values. The reality is that market valuation does not necessarily provide a pathway to replacement and reinstatement. This amendment aims to rectify that by ensuring the equivalent replacement principle is embedded in the scheme.
We in the Labour Party are opposed to this Bill, as I have said. We believe that it is a total derogation of duty when it comes to our climate commitments. The Bill does apply to a lot of people who live in Dublin, but I believe this is a national issue. People across the country care about this. They care about our climate. This is only the latest in a string of similarly reckless Bills from the Government. If it must pass, I hope that the Government can at least accept this amendment so that some of the families who will be most affected by further expansion at the airport at least have some real protection and support.
I want to just come back on what the Minister said earlier about jobs to make the point that there will be no jobs on a dead planet. Overall, fault lies with the DAA. The Government is sidestepping an independent planning process. I urge the Minister to support our amendment.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-07-08/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:10+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-08