Mr. Tom O'Mahony:

I thank the Chairman and other members of the joint committee for their invitation to address today's meeting. We are covering two six-monthly reports for January-June 2012 and July-December 2012. Taken together, they involved more than 40 legislative proposals which were submitted to the Oireachtas. I have separately submitted the current status of each of those to the committee and I will not dwell on them in this opening statement. Instead, bearing in mind that we are now getting towards the end of 2013, I would like to examine what has happened to all these proposals and where they now stand. Given that Ireland held the Presidency of the Council in the first half of this year, a lot of what was happening in 2012 was laying the foundations for what we ourselves progressed in the Council earlier this year. I will therefore look at the more important issues and how they have progressed. In that way, I can bring the committee up to date.

In advance of the EU Presidency, the Minister and the Department set out the priorities we had in transport for the six-month Presidency. We targeted eight dossiers for agreement with the European Parliament. These covered the following: the Connecting Europe Facility, CEF; the Trans-European Networks for Transport, which everybody refers to as TEN -T; the Maritime Labour Convention on Flag State Responsibilities; the Maritime Labour Convention on Port State Control; Tachographs; Galileo; the Recreational Craft Directive; and the Airports Package. Of those eight dossiers, seven were successfully negotiated during the Irish Presidency including two key priorities - Connecting Europe Facility and Trans-European Networks. Agreement on the Airports Package was not possible owing to delays in the European Parliament dealing with the dossier. In addition, five general approach agreements were achieved including a significant component of the fourth rail package and the remaining elements of the road worthiness package.

I will now look briefly at those key priorities, the Connecting Europe Facility and TEN -T. The Connecting Europe Facility, CEF, was Ireland's top priority. It went to the wire but in the final week of our Presidency a deal was brokered between the Council and the European Parliament. The CEF sets out the general rules for granting financial aid in the field of the trans-European transport, energy and telecommunication networks. The CEF has a budget of almost €30 billion and is part of the next Multiannual Financial Framework. It is underpinned by sectoral policy guidelines which determine priorities and complementary measures of implementation. It is a key instrument for targeted infrastructure investment at European level to ensure the smooth functioning of the single market and boost sustainable growth, jobs and competitiveness across the European Union. The CEF also provides for innovative financial instruments as a means of attracting the private sector to play a greater part in delivering key infrastructure investment.

As regards the TENS-T, or Trans European Transport Guidelines, in the transport sector the CEF will fund the development of the core network - and some elements of the comprehensive network - as set out in the new TENS-T Regulation that was also agreed with the European Parliament during the Irish Presidency. This regulation sets out the framework for identifying individual projects of common interest contributing to the development of a transport network that is fit for purpose over the next 35 years. It seeks to tackle the main problems encountered, including: missing links - in other words, networks that do not join up - in particular at cross-border sections; infrastructure disparities between and within member states; insufficient multi-modal connections; the ongoing problem of greenhouse gas emissions from transport; and inadequate interoperability.

The fourth rail package is a key priority in the second Single Market Act and featured high on the Transport Council agenda during our Presidency. While the Commission proposals were delayed, the Presidency still managed to achieve a general approach agreement on the key interoperability dimension of the package. The technical aspects of this file are the building blocks to achieving a fully-integrated rail system in Europe. Work is continuing on the remaining elements of the package.

As regards the maritime sector, the Minister highlighted the status of proposals relating to the Maritime Labour Convention in his report of July to December 2012, which was sent to the committee. In preparing for the EU Presidency, the Department placed particular importance at the outset on the implementation of that convention. Specifically, the two directives are designed to ensure the EU takes a lead in delivering better safety standards and working conditions for the thousands of seafarers in Europe and around the globe.

The Flag State Implementation Directive ensures that EU member states monitor and enforce the Maritime Labour Convention provisions for the working and living conditions of seafarers on board ships flying the flags of those states. The Port State Implementation Directive ensures that all ships calling at EU ports are inspected for compliance with those working and living conditions. Both directives were agreed with the European Parliament during our Presidency and they represent a significant step forward in enabling the EU to take a lead and be a credible voice in this sector.

There were also a number of technical files which the my Department's programme sought to advance. Agreement with the European Parliament on the Recreational Craft Directive was a significant achievement given that the file had been under negotiation for almost two years. This directive will improve exhaust emission standards from water craft engaged in sports and leisure activities, as well as increasing the competitiveness of European producers exporting to third country markets.

Galileo is a European satellite navigation system. Agreement was reached with the European Parliament on the EU regulation on the financing and governance of Galileo and EGNOS, which is the other European satellite navigation system. That covers the next financial period 2014-2020 and beyond. The final sign-off on that will be done once the overall MFF deal has been formally agreed.

There was a lot of activity in the aviation sector. The Transport Council agreed on the Commission's new Occurrence Reporting Regulation at its June 2013 meeting. This new regulation will make a major contribution to safety in the aviation sector by improving the reporting system for incidents and therefore contribute to a more proactive and evidence-based aviation safety management system in the EU.

The main objective of the proposal is a further reduction of the number of aircraft accidents and related fatalities, using civil aviation occurrence reporting to correct safety deficiencies and prevent them from recurring. The incidence of air accidents in European aviation is now very small. Incidents are a different matter. It is very important that any irregularity that occurs over the course of a flight, including landing, is properly reported. In 999 cases out of a thousand it will not give rise to an accident.

While it may not give rise to an accident, it may highlight that something is not working properly in one of the systems and an accident may occur in future if it is not addressed.

The Presidency also facilitated an initial exchange at the June Transport Council meeting on the Commission's new air passenger rights proposal. Support was expressed at the meeting for the objectives behind the proposal, which attempts to clarify grey areas in existing legislation that have led to litigation, inconsistencies and loose standards in the application of the law. The new proposal will make clearer the rights and responsibilities of parties for passenger air transport.

Owing to delays in the European Parliament's deliberations on the airports package, the Presidency was unable to advance negotiations with the European Parliament on this matter as originally intended. The Parliament did not reach a conclusion on the package until April, which did not leave sufficient time for us to deal with the matter before the Presidency concluded in June.

Transport safety was an underlying theme for the Presidency and a number of significant advances were made in this regard, particularly on the road side. The remaining two elements of the roadworthiness package were agreed at Council and we also managed to broker agreement with the European Parliament on the new tachograph regulation. From Ireland's perspective, securing agreement on the tachograph regulation was a good result for the European road haulage sector in terms of addressing tachograph fraud, improving drivers' working conditions and promoting greater levels of safety and competition in the road transport sector.

Significant progress was also made on a proposal from the Commission to reduce environmental noise for motor vehicles by introducing a new test method in the type approval procedure for motor vehicles. The proposal also introduces a minimum sound level to address safety concerns regarding electric and hybrid-electric vehicles. The primary concern in this regard is that the vehicles may be silent, which carries an obvious risk. Despite diverging views from member states, significant progress was made during the Irish Presidency on this complex and sensitive file which provides the incoming Lithuanian Presidency with a clear mandate to negotiate with the European Parliament.

The Department also has responsibility for sport, an area in which the European Union's agenda is limited, although some important work is being done in this area. The key objective on the sport agenda was to make progress on the EU's work plan on sport, focusing in particular on dual careers for elite athletes, the sustainable financing of sport and issues around protecting the integrity of sport, in particular anti-doping. The Minister attended the World Anti-Doping Agency Foundation board meeting as one of three European Union ministerial representatives. At the sports Council in May, the Minister of State, Deputy Ring, facilitated a very useful exchange of views on combating the increased sophistication of doping in sport. The Council was addressed by Mr. Travis Tygart, chief executive of the US Anti-Doping Agency, which led the investigation into the US Postal Service pro-cycling team and Lance Armstrong case. The Council also agreed Council conclusions on dual careers for elite athletes and adopted a mandate for the Commission to participate in negotiations towards a Council of Europe convention against match-fixing.

I trust this provides the joint committee with a useful progress report on developments at European level. I am accompanied by a number of colleagues who were directly involved in detailed discussions in various EU working parties on the proposals, as they were developed and negotiated. Between us, I hope we will be able to address adequately any questions members may have.