The Voluntary Dwelling Purchase Scheme (VDPS) offers homeowners in specific areas the option to sell their properties to Dublin Airport under the following favourable terms:
- 30% Premium on Market Value: Eligible homeowners will receive 30% above the current market value of their property.
- Independent Valuation: Homeowners can have their property independently valued at Dublin Airport’s expense, ensuring transparency and fairness.
- Additional Allowances: Dublin Airport will cover conveyancing fees, stamp duty, tax advice, and moving costs.
- Voluntary Participation: Participation in the scheme is completely voluntary, with no obligation for residents to sell their homes.
Who is eligible?
To be eligible for the scheme your home must be located within the designated noise contour. This is the threshold stipulated under Condition 9 of the planning permission for North Runway:
Condition 9:
“Prior to commencement of development, a scheme for the voluntary purchase of dwellings shall be submitted to and agreed in writing by the planning authority. The scheme shall include all dwellings predicted to fall within the contour of 69 dB LAeq 16 hours within twelve months of the planned opening of the runway for use. Prior to the commencement of operation of the runway, an offer of purchase in accordance with the agreed scheme shall have been made to all dwellings coming within the scope of the scheme and such offer shall remain open for a period of 12 months from the commencement of use of the runway. Reason: In the interest of residential amenity.”
All eligible homeowners have been contacted. If you'd like to check your property's eligibility, you can do so by clicking the button below.
VDPS Progress and Review
Since Dublin Airport initiated the Scheme in 2017, we have offered buy-out to 36 more homes than we are conditioned to do under Condition 9 of North Runway’s planning permission.
Just five dwellings are located within the 69dB contour however, we have extended participation in the Scheme to honour earlier commitments and to have regard to the contours used in the original planning application.
| Total number of homes offered buy-out | 41 |
| Total number purchased to date (September 2024) | 6 |
The Scheme is subject to review every two years as stipulated in Conditions 7 and 10 of the North Runway Planning Permission. The first review was completed in 2024, based on the airport’s summer operation in 2023. Any newly identified homes that now fall within the updated noise contours have been contacted directly by Dublin Airport. The next review will take place in 2026.
How to Opt-in
To check if your home is eligible, please use the eligibility checker linked above. If your home is shown as eligible, kindly fill out the form below. Be sure to include your full address and Eircode in the ‘Message’ field.
Frequently asked questions:
Noise contours are lines drawn on a map to show areas that experience similar noise levels, similar to how contour lines on a map show areas of equal elevation.
These contours are useful for understanding how much noise communities around an airport are exposed to, especially from aircraft. By looking at these contours, airport authorities can assess which areas are most affected by noise and offer solutions like soundproofing for homes.
Dublin Airport works with third party acoustic experts to generate noise contours. They are calculated using computer models that take into account all aircraft activity at an airport, including details such as:
- Runway locations
- Aircraft movements (type of aircraft, number of flights, time of day)
- Arrival and departure routes, as well as destinations (to account for fuel load)
- Distribution of aircraft movements across runways and flight paths
- Data from Noise Monitoring Terminals
For more information on Noise Contours, click here.
Conditions 7 and 10 of the North Runway Planning Permission require a review of the noise insulation schemes every two years. This biennial review involves a progress report on the scheme and a reassessment of the scheme’s boundary. The original boundary was based on forecasted noise contours (before the North Runway became operational). The review now takes into account actual operations and noise levels with the runway in use.
Data from the Noise and Flight Track Monitoring system is used to validate the noise contour modelling and inform decisions about mitigation measures.
The review may lead to an expansion or contraction of noise contours, which can affect eligibility for the scheme. If the contours expand, newly eligible homes will be invited to participate in the scheme.
The latest review took place in August 2024 and incorporated the operational noise contours for the summer of 2023.
