State Airports.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 March 2007

Tuesday, 20 March 2007

Questions (560)

Pat Breen

Question:

629 Mr. P. Breen asked the Minister for Transport if in view of the confirmation by way of reply to Parliamentary Question No. 604 of 12 December 1984 that he was not in a position on that date to indicate the length of the then proposed runway 10/28 at Dublin Airport, he will correct the record of Dáil Éireann in relation to inaccurate information given by him in Parliamentary Questions Nos. 268 of 12 October 2004, 352 of 30 November 2004 and 221 of 9 March 2005 in the course of which he confirmed that the current red zones at Dublin Airport were formally established in 1968 by Dublin County Council at the request of his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9651/07]

Written answers

Minister for Transport (Mr. Cullen)

It is not clear what inaccurate information the Deputy is referring to in this question. For my part I am satisfied that information provided in replies to previous questions was accurate and based on records held in my Department.

In 1968 the then Department of Transport and Power notified Dublin County Council of the areas in which it was considered that restrictions on new development were necessary to ensure the safe operation and development of Dublin Airport. These areas, which were delineated in red on a map, came to be known as red areas or red zones.

The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) has informed me that the red zones took into account four runways at Dublin Airport, i.e. the 2 existing runways, and 2 new proposed runways. On the question of runway lengths, the DAA has additionally informed me that documents which were the subject of correspondence between the then Department of Transport and Power and Dublin County Council in March 1968 indicated two new proposed parallel runways at Dublin Airport, each of potentially 11,500 feet in length. Subsequently, one of these runways was constructed to a length of 8,650 feet and opened for use in 1989. The second runway, proposed to be 10,200 feet in length, is the subject of a current planning application before An Bord Pleanála.