Mr. Fintan Towey:

The Irish Aviation Authority was established in 1994, pursuant to the Irish Aviation Authority Act 1993. That took the functions of air navigation service provision and regulation of the aviation industry out of the then Department of Transport, Energy and Communications and into an independent commercial body. That was a significant change and that was in keeping with the trends at the time towards the establishment of dedicated agencies for air navigation services and aviation safety regulation. In the period since the IAA was established, European policy has begun to put an enormous focus on the importance of the independence of regulatory bodies. This served to highlight that the Irish Aviation Authority, as a body with dual roles that are somewhat related, has internal conflicts. Those conflicts are out of kilter with best practice in the implementation of independent regulation. The background to this is to ensure that we are fully compliant with European legal requirements for independence, that we establish the regulatory function on a stand-alone basis and that we establish the commercial service provision function on a separate basis. We will also integrate with the safety regulation function undertaken by the IAA with the economic regulation function that is undertaken by the Commission for Aviation Regulation, which was established as an independent body in 2001. It is to bring us in line with the best international practice in the regulation of aviation.