DAA launches challenge to bid to reduce night f lights
DUBLIN Airport operator DAA has begun a major legal challenge against a move by Fingal County Council to force it to cut back on night flights.
The council had issued an enforcement notice last July against the DAA for allegedly breaching planning conditions for the airport’s new north runway. It followed complaints about excessive noise from residents living nearby.
However, the DAA has said it was unclear what steps it was being asked to take, and that the notice would have immediately disrupted between 45,000 and 705,000 passengers, at a busy time of year for the airport.
The legal challenge, which will also include submissions from Aer Lingus, Ryanair and the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA), is expected to run for between five and six days, before Judge Richard Humphreys.
The DAA won an injunction last August, putting the enforcement notice on hold pending the outcome of the court case.
Opening the case, Brian Kennedy SC, for the DAA, said: ‘The issues arising are complex, but at its heart there is a simple and we would say straightforward fair-procedures argument. The respondent, Fingal County Council, issued an enforcement notice against my client on July 28 last.
‘That is a notice which is underpinned by potential criminal sanction… and it is also a notice which had the potential to have a very significant impact on operations at Dublin Airport.’
The DAA claims the council failed to provide it with a copy of the planning report of July 18, 2023, which contained the reasons behind the enforcement notice, Mr Kennedy said. He said the DAA was therefore unable to fully understand the basis for the notice, which was a ‘manifest breach of fair procedures in itself’ and a strong ground for the notice to be quashed.
He continued: ‘An additional fundamental problem is that it is unclear from the terms as to what action DAA was required to do in order to comply with the enforcement order.’ He said the enforcement notice was ambiguous as to when aircraft movements had to be reduced to 65 per night, noting that depending when this was done, it could affect between 45,000 and 705,000 passengers whose bookings had already been made.
There was a 92-day modelling period from mid-June, and it was not clear when, during that time, the DAA was expected to cut back the number of flights to an average of 65 per night between 11pm and 7am, the court heard.
Mr Kennedy said it now seemed clear Fingal was saying, through its affidavits to the court, that the 65 flights per night should apply on a year-round basis.
The DAA claims the enforcement notice is flawed, unreasoned, vague and imprecise, is of no legal effect and should be set aside by the court.
It claims the council has failed to enter the reasons for the notice on the official planning register, which it is legally obliged to do.
It also alleges that the notice was issued without the council having adequate regard to submissions the airport operator had previously made to it.
Mr Kennedy said the notice also failed to take into consideration the role of the Irish Aviation Authority, or the manner in which the co-ordination of slots is organised at the airport.
He said it had failed to have proper regard to the rights of those who use the airport, including the airlines, and that the decision and notice were irrational and disproportionate.
Fingal County Council denies the claims and will make arguments concerning mootness, prematurity and an ‘impermissible collateral attack’, the court heard. The case continues today.
‘Manifest breach of fair procedures’