Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

I welcome this Bill on behalf of the Labour Party and we are happy to facilitate its speedy passage this evening. The fact that work has been carried out so quickly on this Bill to enable the ratification of the protocol and convention is a positive development. We welcome the object of the convention in terms of facilitating the easier financing of aircraft purchase through assets based arrangements and do not wish to do anything to delay that process. There are undoubted benefits to Irish airlines in the speedy passage of this legislation and by signing up to the convention.

At a time when the future of airline travel is based on the low cost model, it is critical that the EU plays a part in facilitating the purchase of aircraft, which will enable the various airlines to continue to provide a low cost model to travellers and facilitate easy access to air travel. We can all remember the days when the prices of tickets, even to London, were outrageous. We very much welcome the developments which have taken place in the past 20 years or so. To the fore in that was Ryanair to which we all have much to be grateful in terms of the development of that market. It has certainly forced the hand of Aer Lingus in terms of wising up to the modern airline market, changing its cost base and developing attractive air traffic costs and fares attractive to the public. It was forced into that competitive situation which has been good and from which we have all benefited.

Why is the Minister not prepared to remain involved with Aer Lingus? Why has he taken such a hard line in terms of the future of the national airline? This type of asset-based financing is one of several options available to Aer Lingus in terms of replacing its fleet. Much has been made by this Minister and his predecessor about the urgency with which Aer Lingus needs to access capital, yet nobody has managed to put a figure on it. We know from the chairman of Aer Lingus that it has had no difficulty in financing the replacement of its short-haul fleet. It could easily look after the replacement of its long-haul fleet as a State company. There are numerous options, including this one and long-term leasing arrangements. Aer Lingus would have no difficulty raising loans, for example, and there is always the option of State investment in the company.

I again put on record my grave concerns about what the Minister proposes to do in regard to the national airline. There are many key national strategic interests which the Minister and the Government, as representatives of the shareholder, should bear in mind in terms of the future of the national airline. I reiterate my concern about the direction the Minister is taking as there is no reason Aer Lingus cannot stay in State hands. A number of Government spokespersons, particularly the Minister's predecessor, are particularly disingenuous about the situation in Aer Lingus and the possibilities for the future. I presume we will come back to that when the Minister gets advice from those he proposes to employ to advise him following the taking of the decision. We will return to that matter later in the year.

To return to this Bill, I congratulate the Minister's officials who were involved in the preliminary work and design for this legislation and the international registry. Obviously very impressive work was carried out and the proof of that is the fact that Ireland has been unanimously selected as the winner of the competition organised to select the operator of the registry for the first five years. That is undoubtedly a feather in our cap in terms of aviation development. Great credit is due to SITA and the people in the Department who brought this about. We have been very successful in this regard and it will be an important catalyst in terms of Ireland developing a strong role in the financial aspects of the aviation industry.

As I mentioned, we are very happy to facilitate the speedy passage of this Bill. However, I hope the Minister will take on board the small number of amendments I tabled in good faith and which are intended to improve the Bill. I was disappointed last week when we dealt with the Air Navigation and Transport (Indemnities) Bill in that I thought the Minister was somewhat churlish in not accepting an amendment for which he accepted the need. It seemed he did not want to accept it to avoid the inconvenience of having to table an amendment and any slight delay. I hope the Minister will be generous and accept some of these amendments, the purpose of which is to improve this short Bill. I look forward to the Minister's generosity in that regard.

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