Dublin Airport (Passenger Capacity) Bill 2026: Committee and Remaining Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-08
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Alice-Mary Higgins (IND), National University of Ireland

I move amendment No. 18:
In page 28, between lines 3 and 4, to insert the following:
“Periodic environmental impact assessments
27. (1) Where an order has been made under section 25 , the Minister shall, not later than 2 years after the coming into operation of that order and every 2 years thereafter, ensure that an environmental impact assessment of the operation of Dublin Airport is carried out.
(2) An environmental impact assessment under this section shall assess—
(a) greenhouse gas emissions associated with passenger activity at Dublin Airport,
(b) air quality impacts,
(c) noise impacts,
(d) impacts on biodiversity and protected sites,
(e) impacts on surface transport networks and congestion,
(f) impacts on public health, and
(g) such other environmental effects as the Minister considers appropriate.
(3) The assessment shall be published and laid before each House of the Oireachtas.
(4) Where an assessment carried out under this section identifies significant adverse environmental effects, the Minister shall, within 6 months, publish proposals to mitigate or address those effects.”.
I will be very brief because I am conscious others want to have the chance to vote on their amendments. This amendment is seeking to ensure that there would be ongoing periodic environmental assessments, and that these would look at issues in respect of greenhouse gas, air quality, noise impacts, impacts on biodiversity and protected sites, impacts on the surface transport networks and congestion, impacts on public health, and other such environmental effects as the Minister may consider appropriate.
It is a useful idea not just to have an environmental impact assessment of whatever quality may be there at the original time of the order, but that there would be ongoing environmental impact assessments. This would allow us to see the impact of the new order and the new rule, and this would be monitored every two years. It would also cover some of the issues in relation to air quality and noise impact which are of significant importance to the communities directly under the flight paths or in the adjacent areas.

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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