I will raise the issue with the Minister again. I assure Deputies that the NTA is engaging regularly with Go-Ahead Ireland on the service provision issues currently being experienced on the PSO network. The NTA is also providing regular updates to the Department of Transport on these issues. Regarding poor reliability and punctuality performance issues, they can and have resulted in financial penalties for operators. As part of the performance monitoring process, penalties were applied to Go-Ahead Ireland for the f…

Senators are aware that there has been an extensive dialogue with Senators, the Irish Aviation Authority, IAA, and the Irish Air Line Pilots Association, IALPA, on this issue of a forum and licenceholders charter. Have taken the Senators' considered views on board, I am proposing Government amendment No. a 4a. The aviation ecosystem is complex and consists of people who ensure the delivery of a multitude of services required to make the aviation system function safely. To remain focused on the fundamentals of safet…

I thank the Senators for their contributions. In my view, the substantive issue in Senator Doherty's amendment is the distinction between an "aviation stakeholders forum" and a "licence holders forum". Under the EASA regulatory safety system, which is the EU Regulation 2018/1139 and associated implementing rules, there are a number of identifiable stakeholders. There are licence holders, certificate holders and declared organisations. In addition, under national legislation, there are other terms such as permission…

The aviation ecosystem is complex and it consists of a wide range of people to ensure the delivery of a multitude of services to make the aviation system function safely. That is the objective of this forum. It is about aviation safety and those who will be at the table will be able to feed into that and are experts in the area. The purpose of this forum will be to highlight the exact areas that Senators raised and that is why I have put that into this Bill. I have done so to promote the sharing of best practice in…

To reiterate, the focus of the forum is aviation safety. The groups I mentioned will have an important role to play in that. In regard to the IAA, it is important to say there is a huge amount of expertise within that body. It has more than 120 safety experts on its staff, including 25 highly experienced pilots with more than 100 years of combined experienced and 25 highly experienced engineers with an aggregated 100 years of experience in all aspects of airworthiness. There are other safety experts as well, includ…

That is the purpose of this forum and what it will do.

I have answered the Senator's question. The focus of this group will be on aviation safety.

To clarify, this Bill is not about regulating the IAA. It is about institutional and structural change, as I have said on previous occasions in this debate. I have answered the question as best I can.

To clarify, the general scheme of the Bill was developed by officials in my Department. There was extensive engagement with the two State bodies concerned, namely, the Commission for Aviation Regulation, CAR, and the Irish Aviation Authority, in respect of which section 14 of the Irish Aviation Authority Act 1993 states that, among others, one of the principal objects of the company is "to advise, on its own initiative or at the request of the Minister, the Government, the Minister or another Minister of the Govern…

As I said, the IAA advised on the amendments. It has the statutory responsibility as outlined in the 1993 Act. The scope of the FOI request included asking what independent experts were consulted. Again, that was expert advice that was received on search and rescue.

To clarify, the FOI request related to the expert outside advice regarding search and rescue. As I said, the IAA is consulted about the Bill as set out under the 1993 Act.

The IAA is independent. It was consulted on this Bill in respect of the expert outside advice on search and rescue. That was addressed in the FOI reply because the Department went outside the IAA specifically as regards the area of search and rescue.

I will not comment on a live public procurement process. I can, however, assure Senators that I am confident the consultation that took place, and the advices sought and received relating to the drafting of this Bill and in considering the amendments, were appropriate. The Attorney General has also said that the consultation was appropriate. As Senators know, as a regulatory oversight regime, we have to comply with International Aviation Safety Assessment, IASA, and International Civil Aviation Organization, ICAO, …

I have answered the question.

Just to clarify the engagement, is the request to meet with Senator Craughwell in relation to peer support before-----

Before Report Stage. There has been extensive engagement-----

There has been months of engagement around peer support and I have moved hugely in terms of accommodating the concerns of Senators and the Irish Air Line Pilots' Association, IALPA. What we all what here is the most robust, workable peer support that everyone has confidence in. I have moved as far as I can in relation to that. If the Senator feels he needs a meeting on this, I have to preface it by saying I have moved as far as I can on this issue. If that is something the Senator would like me to facilitate, I can…

Okay.

I will come back to the Senator directly but all terms and conditions will transfer.

Section 41 of the Bill provides that the proposed AirNav Ireland may charge for functions performed by it pursuant to EU regulations listed in Schedule 1. Schedule 1 of the Bill lists 21 such regulations which relate to air navigation service provision and communications. Amendments Nos. 6 and 7 are technical amendments which bring the referencing of these 21 regulations up to date since the Bill was originally published in December 2020, to ensure consistency with the formal titles as set out in the Official Journ…