Residents living near Dublin Airport say the noise from the new runway is “basically like a war zone over your house”.
Homeowners say airport operator DAA assured them they wouldn’t be bothered by the noise of planes flying overhead while it was seeking planning permission for the runway.
Since it opened on August 25th however, they have been bombarded with deafening airplanes flying overhead from early morning until lunchtime every day.
For The Pat Kenny Show this morning, Newstalk reporter Henry McKean travelled out to the town of Kilsallaghan to meet with locals who feel let down by DAA, the Government and Fingal County Council.
“My ears hurt, it’s affecting my mental health.” Locals 7km from Dublin Airport say from the 25th of August their lives changed forever when the North Runway opened increasing the number of low flying, loud planes above their homes. @PatKennyNT @NewstalkFM 9am pic.twitter.com/gsFaNs6NHx
— Henry McKean (@HenryMcKean) December 1, 2022
The town is around 7km from the airport and local man Alan Lynch told Henry he was assured the planes would not be flying directly overhead when he bought his home in 2021.
“It is basically like a war zone over your house,” he said.
“Every minute you have large aircraft flying over your house. Very, very low and very, very noisy. We are recording the noise from each of these flights and they can exceed 90 decibels on a regular basis.
“The height of the flights could be 600 or 700 metres above the ground and these are intercontinental jets that are flying to the US etc. so they are very, very large.”
70db in our bedroom at 01:03am - woke all of us in the house, especially the dogs!! Why are planes taking off for Moldova at 1am from #northrunway @DublinAirport Why the bizarre flight path @IAApress with sharp right turns??? pic.twitter.com/ZKmze8kCE9
— Adrian Kennedy (@AdrianFKennedy) December 1, 2022
Alan said the DAA is putting the noise down to an “unforeseen variance in the flight paths” of the planes flying overhead.
“I’m not against this runway,” he said. “What I am against is this ‘unforeseen variance in the flight paths.’”
“This is something that can be corrected. I think it can be sorted out with the correct will.”
Kilsallaghan local Jane O’Shea told Henry the noise came out of the blue in late August.
“You wake up one morning and you just feel powerless,” she said.
“You don’t know who is going to change it because you are in this situation and you can’t seem to see a way out.”
"Powerless"
She said the planes pass overhead every two or three minutes for at least four hours a day.
“When we bought here, we knew how close we were to the airport,” she said.
“We looked at all the maps and we attended the 2017 meeting with the DAA in the local area where they told us the North Runway was coming.
“They told us explicitly that we had nothing to worry about because the airplanes, by the time they had done a loop around and come back in this direction, we wouldn’t hear them.
“They would be up at 9,000 feet, well away from us and there was absolutely nothing for us to worry about and we all went way happy – but it’s like the M50 has been built right at the end of the garden.”
“My ears hurt, it’s affecting my mental health.” Locals 7km from Dublin Airport say from the 25th of August their lives changed forever when the North Runway opened increasing the number of low flying, loud planes above their homes. @PatKennyNT @NewstalkFM 9am pic.twitter.com/7LdUrlaHj1
— Henry McKean (@HenryMcKean) December 1, 2022
Kilsallaghan local Mary Brillard said children in the local school can’t hear their teacher speak.
“When you have to stop talking to somebody as they can’t hear you and the vibration of the plane affects you, there is something radically wrong,” she said.
“We face the prospect of having over 300 flights a day coming over our house and it will be from 6am to 12pm every day.
“In fairness, we really feel so let down by the Government, the DAA, the regulator of the DAA and Fingal County Council.
“It’s an affront.”
"Monster in the sky"
Meanwhile, Geraldine from Ronanstown said residents “just don’t feel like we’re the same people anymore”.
“I describe the airplanes as just like a monster in the sky,” she said.
“Like it’s scary. It is wrong; it is really wrong. Especially when we never thought this was going to happen and then, all of a sudden … it is frightening.
“We all just feel like we’re going to burst into tears sometimes. Going to cry just because it is so sad. Like we’ve just been taken advantage of.”
"Unexpected situation"
In a statement, DAA said it has “received several queries regarding departure flight patterns” and is “currently investigating with a view to resolving the matter as quickly as possible.”
“We sincerely apologise for any impact this unexpected situation may be having on local residents and we will provide an update as soon as the review process is concluded,” it said.
You can listen back the Henry’s full report here:
