Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

It is open to every country to sign up to the convention in its own way. However, the difficulties manufacturers and financiers of aircraft are experiencing are not necessarily focused in Europe. The financial base and regulatory legal base in Europe are quite good. The difficulty is that an aircraft is a mobile not a fixed asset. If an airline goes broke and its aircraft happen to be located in another country, it is often difficult to get the first charge on the airline. This is why the convention is very much in the interests of airlines. It allows them to obtain much more favourable rates.

The EU Commission will also sign up to the convention.