Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister for State, and his officials in particular, for the speed with which they managed to bring about this legislation. It is very welcome to see the Department of Transport being able to enact or draft legislation so quickly. We often complain about other Departments and the length of time it takes to bring legislation to this House. It is probably due to a considerable amount of work carried out by a number of people over the past number of days that this element of aviation legislation has been dealt with.

As a number of Senators noted, aviation is vitally important to Ireland because it is an island and because of its peripheral status within Europe. It is necessary to ensure there is a continuous link with Europe and the rest of the world. I thank the Minister of State for assisting other Senators and myself with the questions we had regarding the Bill and giving assurances relating to the protection of the Exchequer from unnecessary claims at a later stage. We all want to ensure that airlines have the capacity to operate but not to the detriment of our economy.