Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and hope that we can give a speedy passage to the final phase of this Bill. Broadly speaking, Fine Gael has supported this Bill and its passage through the Dáil and this House. Nonetheless, there was and is room for improvement in this, as in most Bills. When it was going through this House I highlighted specific areas where it fell short of what it could and should achieve, as did my colleague, Deputy Olivia Mitchell, in the other House.

Both Fine Gael and the Labour Party have expressed reservations about some of the powers conferred by the Bill on Eurocontrol, notwithstanding the valuable and crucial work the organisation undertakes on behalf of the other 34 countries involved. Unfortunately, these concerns, as expressed to us by the industry and by the Irish companies in Ireland, fell on deaf ears and the Minister of State did not accept the amendments I tabled.

This Bill will pass with a fundamental flaw, despite the important things it will enact. I wish to highlight again five issues which I raised on Second and Committee Stages. One is that it will discourage Eurocontrol from expeditiously collecting moneys owing to it. It will create an easy target for Eurocontrol to pursue for debts accrued and remove the obligation on Eurocontrol to pursue the entity that incurred the charges. It will impose disproportionate burdens on aircraft owners and leasers and identify the wrong party as the legal wrongdoer in situations where Eurocontrol fees have not been paid.