‘It is torturous living here. It’s every two minutes, the constant roar of engines’

Residents of Kilsallaghan outside Ashbourne say their lives are being made a misery because of the constant deafening noise of aircraft flying over their homes with one resident resorting to wearing both earphones and headphones to try to drown out the noise.

Leona Cantwell also told how her seven-year-old daughter cries every night going to bed and said that noise is so loud that the children cannot play in the garden, while they also have to keep their five dogs inside as the noise drives them "crazy".

Leona says her family cannot continue to live like this and is pleading to Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) to do something about it. Her daughter is so upset that she moved out of their home to stay with her mother for the week to give her daughter a break as the noise is causing her severe anxiety.

Kilsallaghan is outside the flight corridor but Leona says planes are meant to fly straight for five nautical miles before turning but are not doing that and this means they are flying directly over her house.

She feels pilots are taking a “shortcut” and says it has got particularly bad in the last month.

“It's just awful. It is torturous living here. It's every two minutes, the constant roar of engines. They are flying directly over my garden, over my house. I have to wear earphones in my house and so do my children. I have a seven-year-old daughter who cries every night asking me, ‘are the planes going to come tomorrow, Mammy’. I also wear headphones over my earphones because I can still hear it.

“It was said when they decided these new flight paths that Kilsallaghan would be outside the corridor. I live in the heart of Kilsallaghan and it is every two minutes. I'm suffering from severe anxiety from it.

“They stop about 11pm and I literally have my earphones on all the time until then. I work from home two days and have them in other than if I am making a call for work.”

Leona said initially the new flight paths didn’t impact too much on Kilsallaghan and while they could hear the rumble, it was fine and they know that living beside an airport, you will hear the planes. However, she said for the past three to four weeks, they have been constantly flying over Kilsallaghan.

"As soon as they come off that runway, they are taking a sharp turn, they are taking a shortcut over Kilsallaghan. They are meant to go five nautical miles straight and then turn and they are not doing that."

Leona said she regularly logs complaints over the DAA website, leaves messages, and has contacted every politician that she knows. A representative from the DAA met with her yesterday (Monday) morning and Leona said they looked at the maps and Kilsallaghan is clearly outside the flight corridor. She said the representative said they would go back and check if flights are deviating but couldn't make her any promises.

Another Kilsallaghan resident, Alan Lynch moved to the area from an estate in Swords two years ago to have more space, particularly outdoor space for his five children.

"We looked at the flight path situation before we bought our house. Even on the DAA website, there is a FAQ section on 'what if I want to buy a house in the area'. You look at the noise contours and it shows we should not be on a flight path. There are probably other people like me who bought on the basis of not being on a flight path but the reality is something different.

“It is like being in the middle of a war zone. It is honestly rocking the house. Our house was built in 1975 so it wouldn't have the same insulation as a modern house.”

Alan believes that planes are not sticking to the agreed flight path and says that even what is happening was permitted, the impact is so great on the area that the DAA should engage with residents to try to come up with some options to resolve it.

"We want them to go back to what is permitted. We think that if they went back to that, it would solve the problem. That means when they take off from the runway, they go straight out for five nautical miles or until it reaches 3,000ft and then make a gradual turn. It's going over industry and is not bothering anyone. By the time it's turning back over communities to head back out over the coast, it's high enough that it is not bothering anyone. You are still going to hear noise. People don't expect to be able to hear a pin drop. We are realistic. We know living 7km from an airport, there will be noise but if its high enough it is not going to pierce your ears every two minutes."

Cllr Joe Bonner who has been working with residents on the issue says residents feel they are being ignored by the DAA. He said the planes are flying outside of the area they are supposed to be going and that it is having a major impact on residents. "People are being ignored and feel let down and have lost confidence in the authorities," he said.