Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I just want to make an observation. I am quite alarmed that members of this committee would suggest that pilots are compromising passenger safety. We must acknowledge that the Irish Aviation Authority is renowned internationally for the manner in which it conducts safety audits on all airlines, across the board. The airline industry is very important to our economy and to tourism in particular. It is both worrying and concerning that people would be casting doubts over safety. We have witnesses before us today who have been internationally accredited and ranked fourth in the world in terms of conducting safety audits. The flight time limitations that are being implemented here are the same as those being applied across the world.

We need to be careful about raising concerns. While concerns should be raised if people have them, we should be careful about overegging the situation. We must take on board what people are saying about safety in the industry. It is an important industry and for people who wish to travel on airlines into the future, we should not be raising their concerns unnecessarily.