Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy wants to know how far the discussion on the Open Skies agreement has got. That answer is, as far as I understand it, that the United Kingdom will start the withdrawal talks very soon after the general election. They will proceed in a certain way and no talks on other matters, including the Open Skies agreement, should start before March 2019. That would be a very long period in which to have no talks on the Open Skies agreement because the United Kingdom will come out of the agreement - the EU Aviation Single Market - automatically when it leaves the European Union. There is, however, a provision for a framework to be put in place because of the urgency of what the Deputy is talking about in order that arrangements will be made for a transitional arrangement to the Open Skies agreement. There are talks under way. When I spoke to Chris Grayling last week, aviation was top of the agenda because the matter was so urgent. Our objective is to ensure there will be as little change as possible in the context of the Open Skies agreement and that we will have an input into the talks early on - it must be remembered that Ireland is one of 27 member states and that we are not on the United Kingdom's side - in order that a transitional arrangement will be in place on the departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union. That is where we are and that is the intention of everybody involved. Is that okay?