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

-----the impact on biodiversity and congestion on public health. Then that would be information which the Minister has. Then the Minister could then respond to it. It is not a new planning process. It is simply saying in regard to that discretionary power the Minister is granting himself under this legislation that, as well as thinking about an environmental impact assessment before the Minister makes the order, they might look at it after the fact. Honestly, those are things they should be monitoring all the time.
It is disingenuous to suggest that this is a separate planning process, which would be on an ongoing basis. It is simply a monitoring process, and the Minister should be monitoring the noise, the air quality and the greenhouse gas emissions on an ongoing basis in the national airport. That is a fairly reasonable thing. Where significant adverse impacts are identified, the Minister would publish proposals as to what he is going to do. That is actually what the amendment stated. You would not have thought it from the Minister's response, but that is what the actual amendment looked for. I think it was pretty reasonable, and I am pressing it.

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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