Residents groups in north Dublin are to fight plans to build a €130-million runway at Dublin Airport, writes Martin Wall
The Dublin Airport Authority announced yesterday that it intended to seek planning permission by the end of the year for a new 3,110-metre runway to be commissioned by 2010. It will be located 1.7 km north of and parallel to the airport's existing main runway.
The director of Dublin Airport, Mr Robert Hilliard, told The Irish Times yesterday that the proposed runway was required to cater for the predicted growth in passenger numbers. "Already this year we are forecast to handle 17.1 million passengers and that is going to rise to 30 million over the next 15 years."
He maintained that within the next five or six years the demand for runway space will exceed the existing capacity at the airport, leading to aircraft being unable to land and take off on time.
However, residents and politicians in the north Dublin area have expressed concern at the planned development.
Ryanair also criticised the proposal and said that Stansted Airport in London, which handles 19 million passengers annually, and Gatwick Airport, which caters for 30 million people, each had only one runway.
A residents' group in Portmarnock said the development was "totally unnecessary" and promised to fight the application for planning permission when it came before Fingal County Council. The group is concerned about noise and chemical pollution from low-flying aircraft.
Local politicians want the Government to consider developing airport facilities elsewhere in the country. The Labour Party TD for Dublin North, Mr Seán Ryan, urged the Government to look at the feasibility of developing a new airport in south Leinster or the midlands.
Mr Jim Glennon TD (FF) said the Air Corps base in Gormanston, Co Meath - adjacent to the M1 motorway and the Dublin/Belfast rail line - should be developed to handle smaller aircraft.
Ms Angela Lawton, a committee member of Uproar - a group in Portmarnock opposing the runway development - said that consideration should be given to opening the military airfield at Baldonnel in west Dublin to civilian aircraft.
The secretary of the Portmarnock Community Association, Mr Brian Byrne, said the priority should be to maximise the use of the three existing runways at Dublin Airport, while the Government could also consider developing new airport facilities in areas such as Tullamore or Carlow which had good rail links to Dublin.