It often goes unmentioned in the telling of the Icarus legend that his father warned the foolish boy to fly neither too high nor too low. Too high and the sun would melt his wing wax. Too low and the sea would saturate his feathers or, in today’s context, shatter the mental health of the residents beneath his flight path.

Had young Icarus picked Dublin Airport for his take-off and landing he might have lived to tell the tale. For in the eyes of most north Dublin politicians, the sky there has no limit. Local TD and Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien admitted on Drivetime that a throughput of 40 million passengers annually would not be enough. How about 60 million, Katie Hannon asked. He didn’t answer the question.

“The noise really is unbearable at times,” reported Eric, a septuagenarian from Swords, one of several callers to Liveline on Tuesday. He complained of being “woken at five o’clock in the morning” by planes taking off and unable to keep his bedroom window open at night or to hold an audible conversation in his garden.

Still the flight numbers keep on spiralling to maintain pace with the irresistible force of their value. The economy coins it. The neighbours pay the price.

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This week’s Cabinet decision to permanently abolish the passenger cap – currently 32 million-a-year – ignores the........

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