The legislation is necessary to allow the second runway to proceed, the airline claim, and they say that repeated delays by the Attorney General’s Department to expedite this legislation are totally unacceptable.
The Minister for Transport, Shane Ross, and his predecessor have already confirmed that the IAA are the competent authority in the noise monitoring area.
Read more: ‘Nobody has done more for Irish families than Ryanair’ – Airline defends controversial seating policy
At a time when runway capacity at Dublin is full at peak times leading to repeated slot delays, Ryanair reiterated its support for the development of a €240m second runway at Dublin Airport.
“The development of the second runway is a critical piece of national infrastructure which needs to be expedited, especially when Ireland is trying to attract overseas investment that may be leaving the UK in the run up to Brexit in March 2019,” Ryanair ceo, Michael O’Leary, said.
The airline also said that it was unable to based addition aircraft at Dublin because there are no spare slots in the early morning for additional departures.
“The fact that this statutory instrument has been repeatedly delayed in the Attorney General’s office for over 12 months is unacceptable,” Mr O’Leary said.
In separate news Ryanair this morning announced that it has bought back 75,000 ordinary shares as part of its on-going share buy-back scheme which it announced earlier this year.
Read more: ‘New UK air deal needed by next year’
The airline said that it had purchased for cancellation the shares for a nominal value of €0.006 each in the capital of the company.
The company’s average share price is €18.7560.
The buy-back programme will operating until 31 October with Citigroup and Davy making trading decisions in relation to Ryanair’s ordinary shares repurchased under the buy-back programme.
A spokesperson from the Department of Transport said that Minister Ross is fully committed to promoting the development of airport capacity to promote air transport connectivity.
“The short term requirement in this regard is the new runway at Dublin Airport that is being progressed by the daa. The importance of delivery of a new runway is highlighted in the National Aviation Policy published in 2015 and remains a key Government objective,” he said.
“The Minister published a policy statement last September in relation to regulatory changes to promote the abatement of aircraft noise last September which will impact on the operating arrangements for the airport. The delivery of legislation in line with this statement is what is being referred to by Mr O’Leary and the Minister’s Officials are continuing to work closely with the Office of the Attorney General to bring that necessary legislation forward.
“This is complex legislation and the fact of the matter is that it takes time. Of course the Minster would prefer if this process could move more quickly – and indeed has acknowledged his concerns about the delays in the Dáil – but it has to be recognised that early delivery of potentially flawed legislation that falls to be resolved through the courts is not the right answer.
The spokesperson also said that the Minster had commissioned a study to look at development of capacity at the State Airports locking out to 2050.