Dublin Airport spent €2.3m on setting up noise monitors

Dublin Airport has spent €2.3m setting up a ring of noise monitors to assess the impact that flights in and out of the airport are having on communities in north and west Dublin, Meath and Wicklow.

The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) was ordered to install the monitors on November 30, 2022, and they all have to be working by August 24 this year, according to the deadline set by the Aircraft Noise Competent Authority (ANCA), an independent directorate of Fingal County Council.

The monitors are part of the regulator’s plan to help the DAA meet its noise abatement objectives for those chronically disturbed by aircraft noise.

There have been a series of complaints from residents and politicians in north Dublin and east Meath who say a change in flight patterns since the introduction of a third runway at the airport in August 2022 increased aeroplane noise to intolerable levels in their communities.

Responding to a parliamentary question from Catherine Murphy, a Social Democrats TD in north Kildare, the DAA revealed that each of the 23 noise monitors cost it approximately €100,000. This includes legal fees, planning, design, equipment and build costs. The DAA told Ms Murphy that there is an annual running maintenance cost of €1,500 for each monitor.

So far, 19 of the monitors have been installed while three, at Our Lady Queen of Peace Church in Bray, Clondalkin Sports and Leisure Centre and at Ongar Community Centre in Dublin 15 are in the planning stage.

The DAA is also using two portable monitors, with another one on the way.

An “almost live” map is available via the DAA website that shows how arriving and departing planes affect the noise levels detected by each monitor. The monitor at St Margaret’s national school near the airport regularly shows orange levels of noise over 60 decibels (dB) as planes land. Two monitors in Portmarnock also show elevated noise levels above 60dB as planes depart.

According to the DAA, 60dB is the normal level for a conversation at a distance of one metre and is the level of a departing Boeing 737 Max 8 or an Airbus A320neo at a distance of 7,000 feet.

The reading for those departing planes is said to be 71dB at 3,000 feet and 85dB at 1,000 feet. It says 85dB is the noise level at a footpath on a busy road.

According to the 2022 noise assessment report by ANCA, based on data provided by the DAA, the number of people classified as highly sleep disturbed by plane noise during 2022 dropped by 25,707 (55pc) from 2019.

It said the number of people exposed to aircraft noise above the priority level of 55dB at night increased by 154 (10pc) during 2022. It said there were homes located in the area affected by these raised noise levels at night that are not currently eligible for the Residential Noise Insulation Scheme the DAA was required to establish as part of the planning permission for new runway.

The 2022 report found the number of people categorised as highly annoyed by aircraft nose fell by 68,383 (59pc) from 2019. However, the number exposed to aircraft noise above the 65dB level increased by 46 (16pc).

ANCA noted that although the overall number of aircraft movements was lower in 2022 than 2019, the nighttime movements increased by 1,964 (7pc). According to ANCA, exposure to aircraft noise above 55dB at night is described by the World Health Organisation as “representing a clear risk to health”. In the day, aircraft noise above 65dB is considered to leave people “highly annoyed”.

ANCA has set targets for the DAA so that the number of people highly sleep disturbed and highly annoyed in 2030 shall reduce by 30pc compared to 2019, and by 40pc by 2035. The number of people in those two categories must fall by 50pc of 2019 levels by 2040.

In July last year Fingal County Council issued an enforcement notice against the DAA alleging it breached the planning conditions in relation to the north runway following noise complaints from nearby residents.

The council demanded that no more than the 65 flights allowed under the original planning permission use the runway at night between 11pm and 7am. The DAA got a stay on the notice in the High Court. At a hearing in March the DAA complained that the council’s demands were “unclear”

The case was adjourned to await the outcome of an An Bord Pleanála request from the DAA to relax the restriction of 65 night-time flights.