A North Dublin residents’ group is bringing a legal challenge to a decision to expand the number of night-time flights allowed at Dublin Airport.
The St Margaret’s–The Ward Residents Group (SMTW) has lodged judicial review proceedings against the plans, which would see up to 35,672 night time flights permitted annually.
An Coimisiún Pleanála said in July it would extend the hours the airport could from its new north runway to between 6am and midnight. Previously, there had been a ban on landing or taking off from that runway between 11pm and 7am.
The group said the legal action was part of its continued opposition to the expansion of night-time operations at the airport.
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“When planning permission was granted for Dublin Airport’s north runway in 2007, it was on the clear condition that night flights would be restricted,” the group said in a statement. “This safeguard was to protect the health and wellbeing of surrounding communities.”
The group claimed the decision only served the interests of airlines and would cause “serious harm” to residents through sleep disturbance and “long-term health impacts linked to chronic aircraft noise exposure”.
The SMTW group is holding a protest on Saturday as part of an international campaign to ban night flights.
Airline Ryanair is also pursuing a judicial review of the decision, saying the limit amounted to “an illegal second movements cap” at the facility.
It said the planning body had failed to explain why it overruled airport noise regulator Anca, which had rejected a movement cap in favour of a night-time noise quota system.
However, airport operator DAA is not joining the proceedings, saying it would open the airport to “further prolonged uncertainty and hamper our ability to progress our application to lift the airport passenger cap through the planning system”.
