The Environmental Noise Directive (END) requires EU member states to assess exposure to noise from key transport and industrial sources with two initial reporting phases: 2007 and 2012.
Where the recommended thresholds for day and night indicators are exceeded, action plans are to be implemented. This country fiche is an Annex to the EEA report ‘Environmental Noise in
Europe, 2014’ and presents data related to END assessments as reported to EEA by 28 th August 2013 for the two key END indicators: Lden (day evening and night exposure) and Lnight (night
time exposure). Where possible this is presented for second round assessments reported for 2012 and trends are presented as the change in exposure from 2007 to 2012, for comparable
sources only.
IRELAND
Noise sources covered by this assessment
Trends on noise exposure 2007 - 2012
First Implementation Round1
Second Implementation Round2
1
2
564 km
8294 km
58 km
129 km
1
1
Dublin International Airport
Dublin International Airport
Number of
agglomerations*
-
Major roads*
-
Major railways*
Number of major
airports
Name of major
airports
Trends on noise exposure show, for both implementation rounds:
For agglomerations: the relative value of people exposed to more than 55 dB Lden and to more
than 50 dB Lnight due to different noise sources (values are expressed in %).
For major airports: total number of people exposed to more than 55 dB L den and to more than 50
dB Lnight (values are expressed in real numbers).
Major airports:
Lden
Lnight
First Round
Second Round
First Round
Second Round
0
0
0
0
Dublin Airport
Agglomerations:
Name of
agglomerations
and number of
inhabitants**
Dublin
1 150 000
Dublin
1 273 100
Cork
*Differences observed in the number of agglomerations and in the length of major roads and major
railways is due to a change of the threshold being specified in the END between first and second
implementation round (2005-2009 period and 2008-2014 period respectively).
**The number of inhabitants is only given for agglomerations that should have been mapped for both
implementation periods
1
END period 2005-2009: noise sources delivered in 2005, and strategic noise maps delivered in 2007.
2 END period 2008-2014: noise sources delivered in 2008 and 2010, and strategic noise maps delivered
in 2012.
Air
(values in %)
First Round
Lden
Second Round
First Round
Lnight
Second Round
Dublin
0,3
1,0
0,0
0,1
Industry
(values in %)
First Round
Second Round
First Round
Second Round
Dublin
N/D
N/D
N/D
N/D
Lden
Lnight
Railway
(values in %)
Lden
Lnight
First Round
Second Round
First Round
Second Round
Dublin
1,8
1,9
1,1
1,1
Road
(values in %)
First Round
Lden
Second Round
First Round
Lnight
Second Round
Dublin
95
56
83
37
N/D: Data not provided or data not suitable to derive trends (e.g. data not applicable in the first implementation round
and values of exposure provided in the second implementation round)
Decrease in population exposed
No change
Increase in population exposed
Number of people exposed to different noise bands per Lden and Lnight (2012)
900
Lden
800
Number of people in thousands
700
600
Lnight
500
400
300
200
100
0
Lden
Lnight
Airports
Lden
Lnight
Lden
Industry
Lnight
Railways
Agglomeration
Data not applicable in 2 agglomerations for industrial noise, out of 2 agglomerations.
Lden
Lnight
Roads
Lden
Lnight
Airports
Lden
Lnight
Railways
Major
Lden
Lnight
Roads
Data relating to END mandatory noise contour maps (2012)
Country area (km2)
Km of noise sources reported in spatial format
Area of contour map in the 55-65 dB Lden band (in km2)
Share of area of contour map in the 55-65 dB Lden band per km of noise source reported
Percentage of the country area occupied by contour maps in the 55-65 dB Lden band (in %)
Area of contour map with more than 65 dB Lden (in km2)
Share of area of contour map with more than 65 dB Lden per km of noise source reported
Percentage of the country area occupied by contour maps with more than 65 dB L den (in %)
*N/A: Not applicable. N/D: No data in suitable format to perform the spatial analysis
Major
Roads
69638,15
8293,93
1812,78
0,22
2,60
216,98
0,03
0,31
Major
Railways
69638,15
129,24
13,71
0,11
0,02
3,22
0,02
0,00
Major
Airports
69638,15
N/A
40,56
84,21
0,06
7,61
15,79
0,01
Total number of people exposed inside agglomerations (2012)
Dublin
Major Airports
Airports
Industry
Railways
Major Railways
Roads
Major Roads
Cork
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
Thousands
Number of people exposed to Lden > 55 dB
0
0
100
200
300
400
500
Thousands
Number of people exposed to Lnight > 50 dB
Total number of people exposed to Major Airports outside agglomerations (2012)
55-59
50-54
60-64
55-59
Dublin Airport
65-69
60-64
70-74
65-69
>75
>70
100
0
Number of people exposed to Lden
0
100
Number of people exposed to Lnight
For futher information about environmental noise in Europe please consult the full report at www.eea.europa.eu/themes/noise or visit the Noise Observation & Information Service for Europe
at http://noise.eionet.europa.eu/ .