Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Commissioner Kallas, his member of cabinet, and Ms Nolan, who is regularly in contact with this committee and other committees of which I am a member. Her interaction with the Commission generally is very good. We are fortunate that Ms Nolan is of such assistance to us in that regard.

Commissioner Kallas's presentation was very comprehensive so, consequently, I do not have very many questions. Ireland has a good track record on road safety. This is based on our progressive and aggressive approach to saving lives on the road, largely through enhancing legislative measures. Since Ireland is an island nation and since the island effectively has two jurisdictions, we have a difficulty levying penalty points on drivers from outside the State. While our drivers are subject to our law and penalty-points regime, drivers from the six counties north of the Border are not. Has the Commission any proposal for a pan-European approach to the levying of penalty points?

I will not refer to rail networks because the Commissioner will appreciate that Ireland, as an island, is more dependent on its air links than its rail links. Has the commissioner any views on the consolidation that has begun to take place in the aviation sector in recent years? I do not expect him to discuss the Ryanair-Aer Lingus proposal which is before the Commission at present. From a broad policy perspective, would it be better if Ireland had fewer larger airlines, or would it benefit more from having a greater number of smaller airlines?