Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

When it comes to aviation, safety must come first. As I was formerly the Minister with responsibility for transport and aviation safety, it is an area about which I know a little and in which I certainly took an interest when I held that brief. Everyone in the House can be assured that, as far as we are concerned, when it comes to aviation, safety comes first. It is always the pilot's decision, not the passenger's, whether they should fly. It is not correct to characterise somebody who called the pilot as being intimidatory. I certainly do not think that was the former Minister's intention; rather, it was just to ask a question. There is no suggestion the former Minister or any Minister in the Government would try to second-guess the judgment of a pilot.

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