Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

It is not appropriate to link the Bill with the Air Navigation and Transport Act for two reasons. First, the convention is about financial matters rather than air services. Second, it is envisaged that the convention will apply to other non-aviation financial matters, including railway rolling stock and space assets, for which additional protocols are being prepared. That is why the convention refers to mobile equipment specifically, as the issue is much broader than that of air transport, the aspect with which I am dealing today. The Bill does not deal with railway rolling stock or space assets. Further legislation will be needed to apply protocols to such matters.

The Cape Town Convention was news to me but everyone in the airline business knows about it. The convention is not specific to air transport; it covers mobile assets right across the spectrum. It is also about financing, rather than services and so on which are dealt with in other Bills. I do not propose, therefore, to accept the amendment.

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