Mr. Kevin Humphreys:

Deputy O'Donovan made a valid point. These people have elected to spend their funds on this particular type of training. However, it is important to note that things were different under the old schemes. For example, I was fortunate enough to get a cadetship in the Air Corps and Captain James Courtney was fortunate enough to get a cadetship in Aer Lingus, but these schemes no longer exist. People are left to their own devices now. This area is being addressed seriously in the United States. The cost of training for the finished article, that is to say, a pilot who can genuinely operate commercially, is almost €150,000. This is to be expended over a period of two or three years. It is capital intensive and the return is rather more long term.

We fully sympathise and empathise with families involved. This is not the first time this has occurred in Ireland. It happened in Cork in the 1980s and people were left high and dry in the same way because the business element of the training business is precarious. There is a short training period. It is rather intensive. There is intensive ground school training and then intensive flying. The reason people moved out to Florida was to take advantage of the good weather, which we do not have. However, in the absence of sponsorship by the airlines and the State, this area is open to this type of abuse, which is technically a Ponzi scheme. We fully understand this and we have deep sympathy for the families, but until these loopholes are closed off by the appropriate agencies the potential still exists for such problems. We are not the appropriate agency, by the way; we are a safety regulatory body. I fully accept Deputy O'Donovan's point.

A further point relates to our system of education. We do not regard this as a third level requirement although there is plenty of scope for it. Dublin City University and the University of Limerick are offering these courses but they are self-funded. They do not qualify for university grants and they do not qualify for subvention by the airlines either. The poor student must put himself through the basic requirements to gain his commercial pilot license which will cost €120,000. Then he must get a type rating whereby he can operate for an airline and this will cost a further €30,000 and he must pay this. Traditionally, if one had a cadetship in the Air Corps this training cost was taken from one's salary. Similarly with Aer Lingus, because one had a career prospect of 20 years, the money would be repaid. However, the self-sponsored student is not in that lucky position and this is a lacuna in our education and training requirement which should be seriously addressed. I accept the points made.