Up to 400 homes near Dublin Airport are going to be insulated as part of noise mitigation measures.
Grants of €30,000 will be given to home-owners where the noise at night is above 55 decibels.
The DAA has announced the scheme, claiming it wants to be a good neighbour.
DAA CEO Kenny Jacobs said they won’t be guided by emotion when deciding which homes need the insulation – relying on facts only.
“The facts on noise in those homes that genuinely have noise is where we want to address it,” Mr Jacobs said. “Night time noise is an issue.
“I think everybody during the day sees an aircraft go overhead, and you can hear an aircraft, but when you’re trying to put kids in bed at night, that’s when it becomes a major issue that we want to fix, and we take this very, very seriously.
“But again, we’ll be guided by the facts.”
“Absolutely horrendous”
Gráinne Carey, whose dad lives in Ashbourne, says the scheme will do nothing for him.
“Dad, who is 75, has been subjected to the unbearable, constant noise of planes flying directly over our house since February 2023,” Ms Carey said.
“The noise from the planes is absolutely horrendous, yet our house is the equivalent distance of Ballinteer to the Airport.
“The scheme that the DAA has announced today will be of absolutely no use to us, because we fall outside the zone of eligibility.”
Breaching the passenger cap
Meanwhile, the DAA has confirmed it breached the passenger cap at Dublin Airport by over one million last year.
It is once again calling for the cap to be lifted.
The DAA says 33.3 million passengers passed through Dublin Airport last year breaching the 32 million cap.
Mr Jacobs said Dublin Airport could take on much more passengers if the cap was lifted.
“What number do I think it should be? For start, I don’t think Dublin Airport should be limited with a number of passengers,” he said.
“Operationally, at the moment, we can handle over 36 million passengers.”
Customer satisfaction
The DAA said eight in 10 were happy with their airport experience with most passing through security within 20 minutes.
Perfume and make up were the most popular items sold in Duty Free, followed by alcohol and cigarettes.
Elsewhere, in some good news for customers, the former QuickPark near Dublin Airport will reopen in April, meaning fares across the board will decrease due to more competition.
Ryanair aeroplanes with the control tower in the background at Dublin Airport. Photo: Sasko Lazarov/© RollingNews.ie
