Mr. Eamonn Brennan:

I will make a point of trying to make this short because I am trying to be specific to the topics on which the authority was asked to attend rather than giving a general presentation on the authority. I will introduce our team by noting that to my right is Captain James Courtney, who is an Airbus 330 captain. Mr. Kevin Humphreys is director of safety regulation and is the former chief accident investigator in the State, and Mr. Martin Purcell is our head of licensing and oversight of flight training organisations, FTOs, etc.

I will not waste a long time but will provide members with a quick overview. The Irish Aviation Authority, IAA, is a commercial semi-State agency. Our primary functions are the safety regulation of civil aviation in Ireland, that is, all Irish carriers, whether they operate in Ireland or in Europe, the overseeing of the training of technical staff, pilots, aircrew and so on, and the provision of air traffic control services in Irish airspace and on portions of the north Atlantic as well as at the main State airports. In addition, we regulate the airports. We have 670 staff, who primarily are technical staff such as pilots, aeronautical engineers, air traffic controllers, experts in avionics, radio officers and so forth. We receive no State funding and our total assets are €207 million. Last year, we made an operating profit of just under €18 million.

In respect of safety oversight, our key role and main function is the safety oversight of civil aviation in Ireland, namely, the oversight of aircraft, aviation personnel, airports and airspace from a safety perspective. We comply with all the international and European standards and are ranked among the best in both Europe and the world in terms of the safety oversight of civil aviation. Members will appreciate that Ireland has a long history of aviation. A number of large leasing companies are located in Ireland, including entities such as GECAS. One third of all aircraft that are leased in the world are leased from Irish companies. Safety oversight is internationally benchmarked by the International Civil Aviation Organization, ICAO. It completed an audit of the Irish Aviation Authority last year in which we were ranked fourth in the world, with Canada, France and the United Kingdom marginally ahead of us. I note, however, we were significantly ahead of the United States, Germany and many of the large manufacturing nations. Consequently, we have a very good, internationally established and highly thought of safety record in aviation.

On efficiency, the authority has spent a lot of time in recent years trying to be as efficient as possible. While we have one of the lowest charges in Europe, we are also ranked among the most cost-effective aviation authorities in Europe. This is internationally benchmarked by Eurocontrol independently. We have kept our fees for safety regulation more or less the same since 2007, and the authority has assisted the State in carrying out a number of initiatives with regard to Shannon Airport and aviation policy. The authority also represents the State at various functions in terms of ICAO and the European Union.

I will move to the proposed flight time limitations and will provide the joint committee with a little background, after which we will then take questions. I thought I should address the generalities first. The flight time limitations regulation is a European Union regulation that is implemented by the Union's safety agency, the European Aviation Safety Agency, EASA. The Irish Aviation Authority oversees compliance in Ireland of the European Union standards. While we do not set the standards, we oversee their compliance. The current system of flight time limitations is known as Subpart Q of European Union Ops and has been in operation since 2008. Consequently, I presume the subject of today's discussions is the new flight time limitation scheme that is currently being debated by EASA and is expected to come to fruition in the coming months. The European Union regulation establishes two things: rules on flight and duty time limitations and rules on rest requirements for flight crews. Subpart Q is being revised to ensure all European flight time limitations are consistent across the European Union. The idea of this regulation is to achieve consistency among all the member states of the European Union. As for timescale, EASA published a new scheme on 28 February, that is, its opinion on the scheme. We expect the finalisation of the scheme by mid-2013 and expect the scheme to be implemented in the period 2014 to 2016.

I turn to the second item the joint committee asked the authority to address today, namely, Pilot Training College, Waterford. The IAA regulates flight training organisations in accordance with the European Union regulations for safety. The flight training organisations, FTOs, are not bonded companies. It is interesting they are not bonded either in Ireland or the United Kingdom. As recently as yesterday, the United Kingdom published guidance for pilots who are in training, the essence of which is that such organisations continue not to be bonded and that it is a difficult situation. IAA audits and oversight checks on flight training organisations relate to the safety of training organisations. Our primary role is to ensure they are done safely, that the people are fed into the system safely and that everything is done in that fashion. Questions have arisen concerning the financial check on licence approvals relating to this, but that relates to the resources to ensure the quality of the flight training and not to the commercial viability of the business. We do not carry out such a check. We examine whether such organisations have resources sufficient to maintain their simulators, aircraft and so on but we do not consider the financial viability of such a company.

I thought I would keep my address short, if that is in order. I will answer any question members wish, but I thought I would address the specific topics I was asked to do.