David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)

I think the Minister of State is conflating fatigue risk management systems with accounting of hours. Crews would say they are two completely different things. Of course there should be fatigue risk management systems but this is counting one quarter of their hours as rest time. The Minister of State acknowledged in his response that these crew had to remain on base and were ready to be deployed at a moment's notice. The Minister of State said that this was a HR issue, was not for the Department, and was between the employer, the Irish Aviation Authority and the crew. This reminds me of the HSE where everything is at arm's length, where it is not the Minister's fault, it is not the Department's fault, it is some other agency's fault. There is a responsibility on the State, including the Department and the Government, to ensure that when the crews we send out in the worst seas, in the worst conditions and in the worst weather raise very serious safety issues, fatigue issues and workers' rights issues, they and their representative trade unions are listened to. We ask again that the Minister would intervene, notwithstanding what has been said here about the role of the regulator. There is a role for the regulator, but as importantly, there is a role for the Government.

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