Dominic Hannigan (Labour)

I give a guarded welcome to the publication this morning of the Property Services (Regulation) Bill 2009, which will come to this House, I believe, next week. It is the most important Bill regarding estate agents and particularly management companies for many a year and it is not before time. There are many families in Dublin and across the commuter belt, in places such as Dunboyne and Ashbourne, who are paying more than €1,000 per year to get their grass cut, if they are lucky to get it cut. I am glad this Bill will come before the House, but it is only a first step on the journey. I impress upon the Leader the need not just to bring this Bill forward, but to also bring forward other Bills relating to this matter.

The announcement last night that the Swiss owners of SR Technics are about to conclude a deal to sell equipment and relocate it from Dublin Airport is worrying news. It could lead to a loss of further jobs at the airport. We all heard the announcement earlier this week that the DAA is looking at reducing staff. This is very bad news for workers at the airport. We all know that it is a result of a downturn in the overall market. I ask the Leader to look again at the issue of the airport travel tax? Aer Lingus describes it as anti-consumer and claims that it will reduce passenger numbers. Ryanair has also asked for it to be examined again. Other governments have looked at this. The Dutch Government, for instance, did a study and noticed that although it raised over €3 million in airport taxes, it cost over €1 billion in lost revenues so it was scrapped. The Belgians have also looked at scrapping it. Senator Fitzgerald spoke about competitiveness, and it is important that our tourism industry is also competitive. I ask for a debate on airline policy, particularly the travel tax.

This week's edition of the Lancet published an article on climate change. It was done in collaboration with University College London and it claims that climate change is the biggest threat to our health. It predicts more heat waves like the one in France a few years ago, where thousands of people died in the middle of the summer, more malnutrition and higher levels of migration unless governments do something about it. In 2007, Senator Ivana Bacik brought the Climate Protection Bill before this House, yet the Government has done nothing about it since. I ask the Leader for a clear commitment to introduce, as soon as possible, a Bill into this House to address the issue of climate change.