Dublin Airport has been ordered to significantly reduce its night-time flights amid claims it has breached strict planning permission rules governing the usage of its new north runway.
In separate statements today, Fingal County Council and daa, which operates Dublin Airport, confirmed the issue.
The daa has criticised the decision, and its timing, as it is taking place during the peak summer time period.
Dublin Airport's north runway opened last August, despite concerns from local residents over the potential impact of noise from planes flying over their homes.
As a result, planning permission given for the runway included a condition saying that no more than 65 flights could operate from the runway between 11pm and 7am.
However, in a letter sent to the daa on 27 July, Fingal County Council said the airport's summer schedule is in now in breach of this condition.
"In response to complaints received about an alleged breach of Condition 5 of the Planning Permission for the North Runway in relation to night-time flights at Dublin Airport, the Planning Authority has carried out an investigation under Section 153 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 (as amended)," Fingal County Council said in a statement to RTÉ.
"Further to this investigation, the Planning Authority has made a decision to serve a Planning Enforcement Notice and issued an Enforcement Notice, requiring the daa to conform with Condition 5 within six weeks of the date of the notice, so that the average number of night-time aircraft movements at the airport is 65 aircraft movements per night or less - when measured over the 92-day modelling period," it added.
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The operator of Dublin Airport said it is "disappointed" with Fingal County Council's notice for the airport to reduce the number of night flights to a maximum of 65 between 11pm and 7am.
Daa said that Fingal County Council has already confirmed that having a cap on the number of night flights is no longer a fit-for-purpose way of determining how many flights should operate at night-time and recommended that a more appropriate noise quota should be introduced.
Daa has called on Fingal County Council to suspend its "overly onerous" conditions or at the very least provide at least the six months that the council has acknowledged is available under its planning laws.
This would avoid any needless disruption to people's travel plans and airlines' cargo operations, it added.
Daa said it is waiting for documents from Fingal County Council to establish the reasons for its decision and what would be required for the relevant authorities to facilitate compliance.
"We now face an unnecessary situation whereby Fingal County Council requires its interpretation of these onerous operating conditions to be applied at Dublin Airport – and within just six weeks," said daa Chief Executive Kenny Jacobs.
"This would mean the number of flights operating on Dublin Airport's two runways between 11pm and 7am would be lower than before North Runway opened and when it only had one runway.
"It would be like increasing the number of seats in Croke Park to 100,000, but cutting the capacity for games to 50,000. It makes no sense, and the travelling public deserves better."
Mr Jacobs said that Fingal County Council's decision would be bad for the Irish consumer, bad for the Irish economy, bad for Ireland's connectivity with the world and bad for the effective operation of Dublin Airport.
"Daa is fully committed to balancing the needs of a major international airport, one that is a vital economic driver and facilitator of the Irish economy, with the needs of local people. We are also committed to working in close co-operation with Fingal County Council and we call on them to see sense on this issue and avoid unnecessary disruption to flights and protect connectivity and jobs," Mr Jacobs added.
The second runway at Dublin Airport was opened last August. It was the largest infrastructure project in the country, was delivered on time and within the €320m budget and was paid for by daa's own revenues and borrowings.
The project included the building and installation of over 300,000 square metres of new runway and taxiways, 6km of new internal airport roads, 7.5km of electrical cable and more than 2,000 new runway and taxiway lights.
Ibec said that Fingal County Council's decision could potentially cause unnecessary disruptions to trade and tourism.
"This comes at a crucial time when Dublin should be serving as Ireland's global gateway. Unfortunately, this decision does not align with good planning and business practices," said Aidan Sweeney, Head of Enterprise & Regulatory Affairs at Ibec.
"As a trade-intensive island at the edge of Europe, Ireland heavily relies on its aviation transport infrastructure for international connectivity, playing a vital role in our economic prosperity, particularly in trade and tourism," he added.
