One individual was responsible for almost 90 per cent of all complaints about noise from aircraft using Dublin Airport last year.
The serial complainer filed a daily average of 64 incidents with the airport operator daa. The person, who has been reporting claims of excessive noise from aircraft taking off and landing since 2019, lodged 23,431 grumbles in 2022.
In July 2022, the individual, believed to be based in the north-west Dublin suburb of Ongar, made 2,616 complaints to daa. This represented a daily average of 84 incidents of aircraft noise.
New figures published by daa show a total of 26,196 complaints about noise from aircraft at the facility were recorded during 2022. That is up 93 per cent on the previous year with almost 13,000 additional reports.
While the tally is skewed by complaints from one individual, there was an increase in the overall level of gripes. This has been linked to an increase in aircraft movements following the easing of Covid restrictions and the opening of the new €320 million North Runway.
The number of complaints from other members of the public still more than doubled from 1,296 in 2021 to 2,765 last year. There was also a threefold hike in unique individuals who complained during 2022. This was a total of 608 compared to 174 in 2021.
The figures show a spike in people making complaints after the runway opened in late August. This saw around 900 cases reported by 192 individuals in September.
The figures compared to the monthly average last year of 230 complaints from by 76 people. daa confirmed earlier this year that flights departing from the North Runway would be rerouted after residential areas were "unexpectedly overflown".
A spokesperson declined to comment on the latest figures.
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