Business groups back lifting of €320m Dublin runway restrictions
Business groups have backed the Daa in its efforts to remove restrictions on overnight flights from its new North Runway, as protests from local residents opposed to the plan intensify.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Transport Minister, Shane Ross, were on hand to turn the sod on Dublin Airport’s new €320m North Runway project, which the Daa says is "urgently needed" for long-term Irish economic growth.
Despite planning being granted, conditions restricting flights between 11pm and 7am remain, which the Daa said it will fight.
Dublin Chamber backed removing what it called "crazy restrictive planning conditions" regarding overnight flights.
Chamber chief executive Mary Rose Burke said: "Keeping these restrictions in place would mean Ireland is shooting itself in the foot at the very moment when global connectivity is most critical."
Local residents from nearby communities protested outside the Dáil and at the sod-turning ceremony, saying their health and quality of life will be compromised by allowing nighttime flights.
Daa chief executive Dalton Philips said: "We are acutely aware of the concerns of local residents in relation to this development and there is a balance to be struck between those concerns and Ireland’s national economic needs."
