Ms Cathy Mannion:

I thank members for those questions. I might group a few of them together because they seem to cover the same points. A number related to the concern that we did not find out until after the event and asked whether there was anything that we could have done about that, whether there were consequences for Ryanair for not telling us in advance and whether there should be a legal obligation on it to tell us in advance. As far as I am aware, and correct me if I am wrong, but there is no legal obligation on Ryanair to tell us in advance of what it will do. However, it would definitely have been to Ryanair's advantage to have let us know in advance because it would have stopped the confusion and given passengers the correct message.

This brings me to the second part of our role, namely, enforcement. The first part is to get the information out and the second is to ensure airlines apply the rules. If a passenger takes a claim to Ryanair and is dissatisfied with the response, the matter comes to us where flights out of Ireland are concerned. I will carefully examine the level of information that was provided to the customer at the time he or she made a decision. Absent information, a person is not sure what the right thing to do is, so he or she might end up doing the wrong thing. This is part of the reason for us saying on our website that we examine situations on a case-by-case basis in that we must consider the full circumstances of each complaint that we receive.

Regarding a sanction, this could cost Ryanair additional funds because it did not provide the full information to the passenger. Separately and at the end of the process, we will examine how well Ryanair did overall in terms of providing information and dealing with the claims made to it. That is the next stage down. For the past couple of weeks, our focus has been on getting information out as quickly as possible. I am disappointed that it took until Friday, 29 September to get information out, but we did get it out. Ideally, it should have been available on day 1, but it was not. We did what we could.

I will address another point before I move on to the question on the Civil Aviation Authority, CAA. While we were working under the Regulation (EC) 261/2004 requirements, it is important to note that there were other pieces of information that we required Ryanair to give to passengers that had nothing to do with Regulation (EC) 261/2004.

The first one was that on the Monday we asked it for a list of all affected flights and also for it to contact all affected passengers. It did this. Then on the same week, on 21 September, we asked it for information on who was covered by compensation. It gave that to us on 21 September. Subsequently we asked for a list of affected flights out of Ireland. It gave that to us as well. At the same time as trying to sort out all the information requirements for Regulation (EC) No. 261/2004, we were also trying to get extra information for passengers. In a sense, Ryanair was working with us on that. It does not condone the situation it got itself into, but from me looking in, it was trying to do what it could to resolve that situation. It might not have been as fast as we all wanted, but that is my perception.

I was expecting questions on the CAA because that got considerable press coverage, particularly in the second week. On the Wednesday and Thursday, it issued its enforcement notice. There were two letters as part of that. A lot of space in the press was taken up with which regulatory authority was stronger and which was weaker. I did not engage in that at all because I just wanted to get the information out to passengers. For the first week we appeared a few times in the media. That was just about people's rights and what they should do. I did not want to get involved in a debate about which regulatory authority is strong and which is weak. As to the legal aspects of it, we are strong in a regulatory sense, but there are different ways of doing things.

As I said at the start of the presentation, I decided not to issue a direction because there was concern that a Ryanair withdrawal to assess the direction before coming back to us would give it two weeks. I could not take that risk because I wanted to work with it. I was not expecting Ryanair not to work with us because I knew the information was there. It was a case of getting it out. It was a matter of judgment and that was the judgment I made. The CAA made a different judgment. Its emphasis or focus might have been slightly different from ours.

I wish to make a technical but important point. Following a change in the past couple of years, responsibility in the UK for handling complaints under Regulation (EC) No. 261/2004 is now largely a matter for independent alternative dispute resolution bodies. They actually deal with complaints from the passengers. For the past year or so, Ryanair has been assigned to that. The CAA deals with the enforcement part of the regulation but does not deal with the complaints themselves. On the other hand CAR is a one-stop shop. We deal with the complaints and we also deal with the enforcement. Therefore our focus was different. I was so wired into getting information out to the passengers that I did not want to take the risk of going down the legal route. As members will know, once we get into the legal arena, it can go either way. While they may work with us, there is also the risk that they do not. I could not take that risk. In the UK, the CAA's focus was slightly different and was slightly more on enforcement.

In addition, without getting too technical, the circumstances were different. Dublin has just one airport, Dublin Airport. Therefore we do not have many concerns about transfers from this airport to another airport. It is all Dublin Airport. Part of the concern the CAA might have had regarding the information Ryanair was or was not providing to passengers was not a direct concern for us because we only look after passengers out of Ireland. The characteristics of the market in the UK are different from those here. That might have been an added complexity which might have suggested it move in one direction rather than another.

The last question was on whether we have sufficient powers. I will hand over to Mr. Hodnett who will give some background on legal powers.