Mr. Evan Cullen:

We ask the Government to take seriously the recommendations of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, ECDC, and ask for a co-ordinated response on based on what the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, EASA, and the ECDC are saying. If we had a co-ordinated approach across Europe, and Ireland was not the outlier in terms of restrictions and in its refusal to give assistance, we would be in a much better place than we are now.

With regard to getting the industry back, many pilots have now had their licences suspended. We are required, by law, to operate aircraft within fixed periods of time. Otherwise our licenses are suspended. One of the critical number of days one cannot fly is 90 days and an awful lot of pilots are now in that space. That means they require extra training of at least one day in the simulator and, perhaps, some training in the aircraft with no passengers. This all leads to a considerable amount of time and cost to get the aviation industry up and running again. One cannot switch it on and off like a light switch.