Cost of Noise Pollution

Money

The problem of noise pollution is more concerned with how it impacts your well-being, rather than how  it affects your wallet. However, there has been a study by OECD, an international organisation helping governments tackle the economic, social and governance challenges of a globalised economy, which  reported on the social costs from transport noise:

• Lower property values
• Health care costs can spiral when dealing with loss of sleep, hearing problems or stress
• Work income due to poor concentration, communication difficulties or fatigue due to insufficient rest

How Much It Could Cost You

Proposals for a new Noise Bill were outlined in 2010. In this, causing noise pollution could lead to on-the-spot fines of €150 - the same as the current on-the-spot fine for littering - with repeated offenders being subject to a higher fine of €250.

There were also a number of other strong measures, included in the bill:

• Businesses - €1,000 on-the-spot fine
• Summary offences €5,000 and daily penalties of €500
• Conviction on indictment €500,000 and daily penalties of €5,000

Dealing with noise from alarms has also been revamped, with local authorities now having fast-track powers to deal with one of the biggest causes of noise pollution. Gardaí will have the power to disable an alarm from the outside. The new noise laws are designed to improve people's quality of life - by improving the effectiveness of the existing resources available to tackle nuisance noise issues.

The Bill was part of the previous government's Programme and was not passed before the government fell.