Elisha McCallion (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I apologise to the witnesses for speaking with my back to them but it cannot be helped.

Some of my colleagues have already alluded to the situation regarding the North and harmonisation. While I appreciate the Commission's priority is likely to be harmonisation across Europe, while for us as an island nation, there is a need to ensure harmonisation, as most colleagues have said today. Has Mr. Brandon any information on any current conversations around the open skies arrangement? Will Britain sign up to it? If it will not, is there any new protocol or potential new arrangement in place? As a committee, we should be ascertaining the answers to these questions sooner rather than later.

Like the aviation sector across the world, we, across the island, find ourselves in a difficult situation. We almost have a double whammy insofar as we do not know where we are with the next side of Brexit, as well as with this global pandemic. It is important we get information around harmonisation, not just with regard to the pandemic and testing, but across the board. Has the Irish Aviation Authority, IAA, any information where that is at? We have signed up to a memorandum of understanding which reinforces the common travel area, CTA, although the legislative framework around it is somewhat questionable. We cannot continue to talk about the crisis in aviation without highlighting the fact we will have a particular unique set of circumstances across the island in January dealing with part of the island being in Europe but another part not being.