Ms Anne Nolan:

Perhaps I will reply to Deputy Griffin first, and I hope the Chairman will remind me if I forget anything. Deputy Griffin referred to the ash cloud. When that happened I was acting chairman of the authority, and I was caught in Lisbon in the thick of it, if you will pardon the pun. I was away from all the activity but I got many telephone calls asking me what I was doing and why I was not there, although, obviously, I could not get home. I believe - and we took the view at the time - that the Irish Aviation Authority and the other authorities throughout Europe that were affected by the event took a rather cautious approach. At the time that was absolutely the right thing to do. That was the first time such a thing had happened. Now, each time I meet my Icelandic colleagues I ask them how the monster is doing. Last week they told me it was palpitating. That is a good thing and it means it is not going to explode on us. The chances are that it might happen again, but the European aviation authorities will be in a better position to handle it.

We bought some equipment after the last incident because we had been reliant on what the authorities in the United Kingdom and Eurocontrol were doing. We decided that we needed to be able to take our own measurements for ash cloud readings and so on, so we bought some Lidar equipment. I am unsure of the detail. I understand that if it happens again, when a certain level of ash is detected, individual civil aviation authorities will be able to make their own decisions. In other words, there may not be a blanket closing down of the entire airspace around Europe and we will be able to make our own decisions. Some of the airlines will be kitted out in such a way that they will be able to make decisions as well. Depending on their technology, some of them may be able to fly in heavier ash cloud than others. However, if the ash cloud were to reach a certain level then the Eurocontrol people would step in and close the entire place down. However, hopefully that will not happen again. That is what we will do in future.

Reference was made to skimping on fuel. There is absolutely no possibility of airlines on our register skimping on fuel. I know there have been some reports in newspapers and so on, but they do not do that. They have to carry a certain level and we check that. Our inspectors will turn up at the fuelling depots or on the ramp and explain that they will be travelling with the captain on that day, whether announced or unannounced. The inspectors check that. We watch out for things like that all the time. It is not in the airlines' interests. They have to carry certain levels of fuel. If there are very bad weather conditions on approach to an airport, for example, and the airplane has to go into a holding pattern for a given period, then the fuel will drop to a certain level. The aircraft is then obliged to declare an emergency landing. That is all specified, and commanders of aircraft have to follow the rules; they have absolutely no choice in the matter and we check it regularly. I would not be concerned about it.