North Dublin airport noise campaigners have rejected Michael O’Leary’s suggestion they are ‘local loonies’ making ‘false claims’.

Last week, the Ryanair CEO told Newstalk he despaired at opposition to Dublin Airport’s plan to increase its annual passenger to 40 million a year.

The airport has submitted a planning application to increase the cap but Michael O’Leary is urging the Tranport Minister to step in and push the increase through.

Sitting beside a picture of Eamon Ryan wearing a ‘dunce’ cap, he said the airport is a piece of national infrastructure that should not have to go through the same planning process as other facilities.

Speaking exclusively to Newstalk he also hit out at campaigners compalinig about the noise of planes flying over their homes.

“You cannot have access on and off the island of Ireland delegated to a couple of county councillors in Fingal and a couple of, frankly, local looney objectors making false claims about noise,” he said.

Speaking to Newstalk Breakfast, Ballyboughal Community Council spokesperson David Walton said locals are “not anti-airport” and many of them are proud to work there. 

“Our gripe is really with the board of directors and the chairman of the DAA - which has been a serial planning permission breaker of conditions,” he said. 

Planning conditions

Mr Walton said it was an ‘incontestable fact’ that Dublin Airport had broken the conditions under which it was granted permission for a second runway. 

“Basically, the current flight path from the North Runway has no bearing [to] the flight path conditions from which they got their permission,” he said. 

“There’s been no environmental impact assessment; by their own admission and their own data, the DAA have been in breach of their nighttime flights. 

“They’re entitled to 65 nighttime flights a month and they’ve exceeded that by 50% in 2022. 

“It’s the equivalent of having permission for a two-storey house and building a three-storey house.” 

Dublin Airport Terminal One, Dublin, Ireland, Europe

Mr Walton said this has reduced locals’ quality of life, despite assurances when the application was submitted that a second runway would have little impact on them. 

“They bought houses based on the planning [application] submitted, which showed the flights going well north and at much higher altitudes,” he said. 

“The planning permission basically stated they have to fly out for 11km in a straight line from the airport [but] they’re turning right at the end of the runway.” 

On the issue of the passenger cap, Mr Walton said Dublin Airport is “patently unsuited” for further expansion. 

“The numbers that are involved are staggering,” he said. 

“You’re talking 47,000 people will be highly sleep distressed and 115,000 people will be highly annoyed.” 

In a statement to Newstalk, the DAA said the number of people impacted by noise pollution has reduced in recent years. 

"The sharp drop in noise in 2022 was the result of a number of factors, including the opening of North Runway in August 2022 which has resulted in the more densely populated area of Santry and Dublin City being overflown less often," a spokesperson said.

"In addition, the modernisation of aircraft fleet to quieter models has resulted in less noise."

He added the DAA remains committed to reducing the impact further in the years ahead.

Main image: Michael O'Leary. Picture by: Jeff Gilbert / Alamy Stock Photo