Council Briefs: Airport noise monitoring, “forever chemicals”, and ethical procurement

Airport noise monitoring

The council should conduct noise monitoring surveys under the North Runway flight departure path at Dublin Airport over the summer, Independents4Change Councillor Dean Mulligan said at Fingal’s monthly council meeting on Monday.

These assessments should be done independent of DAA, the company that operates Dublin Airport, at six different locations across the 92-day period in order to verify noise levels and how these affect local communities, Mulligan said in a motion tabled during the meeting.

“Independent monitoring, that is being done already by residents who live in the locality, would suggest that they’re getting two or three decibels more than what is being published by the DAA,” he said.

But DAA already operates an extensive noise monitoring network around the airport, said David Storey, Fingal’s Director of Environment, Climate Action, Active Travel and Sports.

According to the DAA website, it currently has 25 fixed and two mobile noise monitors as of early 2024.

They had upped this from seven after the Aircraft Noise Competent Authority (ANCA) issued them a statutory direction in 2022, Storey said.

On 28 January, at a Community Liaison Group meeting, DAA also committed to provide another five mobile monitors, he said.

The network is going to remain under review through the implementation of the current airport noise action plan from 2024 to 2028, he said.

“There is no justification for the council [to] expend significant resources to duplicate the Airport’s monitoring network and for which there is no budget provision,” he said.

But Mulligan, responding to Storey’s report, said the cost of the council putting in its own, independent noise monitors would be between €3,000 and €4,000 per location, he said. “It’s not really excessive.”

Social Democrats Councillor Joan Hopkins, supporting Mulligan’s motion, said DAA should have to pay for the new monitoring stations.

Maybe there was something in between not doing anything and duplicating the airport’s monitoring, Green Party Councillor David Healy said, “and that is carrying out a validation or verification exercise”.

It would be important, especially if, as Mulligan suggested, citizens were getting different noise readings to DAA, Healy said. And that wouldn’t be too expensive.

Fine Gael Councillor Kieran Dennison agreed with Healy, before saying that given there was the commitment for five more mobile monitors, this should  hopefully satisfy the local community.

“I’m just conscious if we are the noise monitoring authority then surely we have confidence in the monitoring being done for us,” Dennison said.

Additional noise monitoring stations could validate the current noise models used in aircraft noise assessments, Mulligan said. “So I do think there is scope, and I would like to think there is scope for this to be looked at.”

Despite Storey’s objection, councillors agreed on the motion.

ANCA is an independent directorate within Fingal County Council. Some residents who live around the airport distrust both ANCA’s and the council’s regulation of the airport, saying they are simply too financially dependent upon DAA to act independently.

Labour TD Duncan Smith introduced a bill in the Dáil last year to move the responsibility for regulating Dublin Airport noise out of the council, and give it to the EPA instead.

“Forever chemicals” at Dublin Airport

Councillors were told at their monthly meeting on Monday that Fingal County Council wouldn’t be recommending an independent investigation into the presence of “forever chemicals” at Dublin Airport.

This comes following a review by engineering consultants Geosyntec of DAA’s investigations into the presence of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the soils and waterways in-and around the airport, said David Storey, Fingal’s Director of Environment, Climate Action, Active Travel & Sports, in a report.

Storey issued his report in response to a motion by independent councillor Joe Newman, asking the council’s chief executive, AnnMarie Farrelly, to conduct an independent investigation into the levels of contamination from these chemicals, which have been linked to a greater risk of cancer, and hormonal disruption.

But right now, that isn’t advised, Storey concluded.

DAA has undertaken sampling and testing for PFAS in soils within the airport, as well as watercourses, he said in his report.

The airport authority, in April 2024, published an analysis of the presence and levels of PFAS on the site, which confirmed varying levels of PFAS in surface water, ground water and concrete, Storey said in his report.

DAA attributed their presence to the historic use of firefighting foam that contained the chemicals.

DAA’s testing was undertaken by an accredited laboratory, and the EPA had also carried out PFAS testing in the Ward and Sluice rivers, Storey said.

A report by Geosyntec, upon reviewing the airport’s tests, advised that the monitoring undertaken was “reasonably comprehensive”, Storey said. “The surface water monitoring undertaken was extensive but further soil and groundwater testing was advisable.”

Geosyntec’s review has since been sent to the DAA by the council’s Environment division, and they have held follow-up meetings, he said.

DAA currently plans to procure consultants and ground investigation contractors to address this review, he said. “Another meeting is planned in Q2 to follow up progress on this matter.”

The council has also deemed appropriate DAA’s current arrangement for analysing the environmental risks associated with PFAS, he said, but that will continue to be reviewed.

Newman, who was not at the meeting, was happy to accept the report, independent Councillor Jimmy Guerin said.

Ethical procurement

Fingal should adopt an ethical framework for its tendering process, county councillors agreed at their monthly council meeting on Monday.

The decision was made following the tabling of a motion by Sinn Féin councillors Angela Donnelly, Malachy Quinn, John Smyth and Breda Hanaphy.

Such a framework would ensure that the council, when conducting commercial transactions, isn’t complicit in human rights abuses, Donnelly said at the meeting.

This follows councillors’ back in July in favour of the council boycotting IT and other products manufactured by corporations connected to the Israeli military.

Adoption of an ethical procurement policy would ensure companies are checked appropriately during tendering processes, Donnelly said.

And create an atmosphere where the council didn’t feel pressured to be complicit in human rights violations by buying goods from companies connected to them, Donnelly said.

So far, five councils have adopted this motion, she said, listing Limerick, Clare, Wicklow, Louth and Tipperary.

Small actions like this create a ripple effect that makes a difference, said Smyth. “This motion, for me, perfectly represents an opportunity to make a meaningful difference and make a meaningful impact.”

Industry needs to be forced into ethical practices, Smyth said.

The Sinn Féin motion said this policy would make certain that every effort was made to keep the council’s tendering process consistent with United Nations’ Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

In response, Oliver Hunt, Fingal’s head of finance, said that procurement in local authorities operates under the framework of EU and Irish law and public procurement guidelines, and the councillors’ motion didn’t identify any gaps in the current framework where those principles weren’t being met.

If councillors agreed to the motion, the council would forward this to the Department of Public Expenditure, Hunt said. “They’re the ones who would have oversight in relation to the guidelines around it.”

The motion was agreed.

Both Fingal and Dublin city councillors have previously voted to support motions calling on their councils to stop buying HP-branded products. But in both cases, council officials told councillors they could not do that.

The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) has urged a boycott of the HP-branded corporations, HP Inc. and Hewlett Packard Enterprises, as well as its subsidiaries.