Mr. Ronan Gallagher:

Yes, although we might come back to this issue later during the contributions of other committee members. Estimates of costs are being thrown around the place and I am not sure where they have originated. We have not calculated a final cost but it will not be anything close to the figures mentioned.Essentially, all we are doing is redesignating existing functions between two organisations. We currently have two organisations and when we finish this process we will still have two organisations. What will have changed is the distribution of work and responsibilities. Whatever the associated additional costs, they will be incurred around the margins of the back office administration. It will be in no way material in the grand scheme of the charges that have been mentioned. We are working on the charging mechanism. It involves fees imposed on Irish air operator certificate holders, namely, Irish airlines and pilots. A great proportion of the fees also derive from en routeand terminal charges for traffic control services that are regulated at European level. Some of the moneys associated with this mechanism should be recoupable through that process. That will further spread across the board whatever kind of marginal additional costs result from this process.

In answer then to the question of whether there will be cost increases, the answer is not necessarily but possibly. Over the medium term we expect the separation of these functions, which we will come to in more detail later, to result in much better services and a much clearer regulatory landscape. That will be worth the small charges in the long term. I do not see the associated costs being of an order that will be significant in the grand scheme of things, notwithstanding the fact that every penny extra is a problem for at least one of our Irish airlines.