Results 9,661-9,680 of 18,851 for speaker:Fergus O'Dowd

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Ryanair Service Provision: Commissioner for Aviation Regulation and Irish Aviation Authority (4 Oct 2017)

Fergus O'Dowd: I will ask Captain O'Connor to respond.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Ryanair Service Provision: Commissioner for Aviation Regulation and Irish Aviation Authority (4 Oct 2017)

Fergus O'Dowd: Just before the witnesses leave, Deputy Troy would like to make a comment.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Ryanair Service Provision: Commissioner for Aviation Regulation and Irish Aviation Authority (4 Oct 2017)

Fergus O'Dowd: Ryanair carries 131 million passengers per annum and its safety record is top class. It has had no fatalities which is significantly important. I also wish to affirm the professionalism of the regulators in the context of safety. The commission does a fantastic job. Eternal vigilance is the price of peace. I thank the commission for that and I appreciate the session has gone on for three...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Working Hours of Pilots and Pilot Welfare: Irish Air Line Pilots Association (4 Oct 2017)

Fergus O'Dowd: Before we begin, I remind members, witnesses and attendees in the public Gallery to please turn off their mobile telephones. We will now continue our engagement on the issue of working hours of pilots and implications for their welfare. I welcome Captain Evan Cullen, president, Irish Air Line Pilots Association, IALPA. He is accompanied by Captain Ted Murphy, Captain Alan Brereton and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Working Hours of Pilots and Pilot Welfare: Irish Air Line Pilots Association (4 Oct 2017)

Fergus O'Dowd: Does everybody have a copy of this? We received this, for the record, this afternoon, so some people may not have read it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Working Hours of Pilots and Pilot Welfare: Irish Air Line Pilots Association (4 Oct 2017)

Fergus O'Dowd: The electronic format was circulated.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Working Hours of Pilots and Pilot Welfare: Irish Air Line Pilots Association (4 Oct 2017)

Fergus O'Dowd: I am trying to be fair to the witness and the members of the committee as well.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Working Hours of Pilots and Pilot Welfare: Irish Air Line Pilots Association (4 Oct 2017)

Fergus O'Dowd: We just want to get it right so that we are factually correct and fair to everyone. I want to ensure first that everybody has a copy and that the paper document we now have is exactly the same as what was circulated.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Working Hours of Pilots and Pilot Welfare: Irish Air Line Pilots Association (4 Oct 2017)

Fergus O'Dowd: I am trying to get it right and to ensure that everything is transparent and open, and to make sure that nobody is being disadvantaged in any way, least of all the witness. The witness wishes to refer to pages in this document now.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Working Hours of Pilots and Pilot Welfare: Irish Air Line Pilots Association (4 Oct 2017)

Fergus O'Dowd: I have a difficulty. Custom and practice here, and I have been a member here for 20 years, is that we get a full copy of what the witness is going to say. We do not have that advantage. I want to be factual and correct. We have requested that. I do not have it. I appreciate the witness bringing us through pages here, and I appreciate that they are non-consecutive. I want to be fair to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Working Hours of Pilots and Pilot Welfare: Irish Air Line Pilots Association (4 Oct 2017)

Fergus O'Dowd: I am only trying to be fair. Let me be clear to the witness, because I want to get this right. The witness has made very serious charges about our regulator. This is the first I have seen of this documentation, so we need to get the regulator's response to it. The witness is saying that when complaints are made to it, it may not or does not respond and that it is a black hole. That does...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Working Hours of Pilots and Pilot Welfare: Irish Air Line Pilots Association (4 Oct 2017)

Fergus O'Dowd: I am just not happy with this process at the moment. I do not know how other members feel. Safety is such a huge issue, and transparency about the points that the witness is making is very important. We are seeing them in the order that the witness is making them in now, and I am concerned about that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Working Hours of Pilots and Pilot Welfare: Irish Air Line Pilots Association (4 Oct 2017)

Fergus O'Dowd: The budget is next week, but I agree that we ought to have sight of everything the witness wishes to say in one document, on consecutive pages, and because it is such a serious and important matter he is bringing to our attention, the people mentioned in it ought to have a copy of it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Working Hours of Pilots and Pilot Welfare: Irish Air Line Pilots Association (4 Oct 2017)

Fergus O'Dowd: The witness did not use the word "respond".

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Working Hours of Pilots and Pilot Welfare: Irish Air Line Pilots Association (4 Oct 2017)

Fergus O'Dowd: It is all the more reason for us to have a copy of the documentation and reflect on it. I honestly believe the important point about Oireachtas committees is that we have to have everybody's confidence, including the public. I am not happy. I accept how serious the allegations are because, effectively, Mr. Cullen is saying the IAA is not doing its job on critical safety issues. That is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Working Hours of Pilots and Pilot Welfare: Irish Air Line Pilots Association (4 Oct 2017)

Fergus O'Dowd: I am not happy with what Mr. Cullen said.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Working Hours of Pilots and Pilot Welfare: Irish Air Line Pilots Association (4 Oct 2017)

Fergus O'Dowd: That is what we agreed, but as I understand it, the pilots would not come.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Working Hours of Pilots and Pilot Welfare: Irish Air Line Pilots Association (4 Oct 2017)

Fergus O'Dowd: I agree.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Working Hours of Pilots and Pilot Welfare: Irish Air Line Pilots Association (4 Oct 2017)

Fergus O'Dowd: As Chairman, I want to hear everybody's views, but personally I believe I cannot allow the meeting to proceed unless and until we receive a copy of what the delegates are going to say. I appreciate that we will have it soon and we will reconvene when we receive it. We could not have it any other way as the issues are so serious and of such importance that we need to do justice to what the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Working Hours of Pilots and Pilot Welfare: Irish Air Line Pilots Association (4 Oct 2017)

Fergus O'Dowd: That is a matter for him. I would be very happy for him to do so.