Paschal Donohoe (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister to the House. I also welcome this legislation. As the Minister said, it is a legislative change that is very much to be welcomed. I agree with his concluding remarks that during times of great economic difficulty, such as those in which we find ourselves, there is no single silver bullet remedy that will release us from them. Achieving that will require the implementation of a suite of measures, each of which, individually, might not deliver a great deal but when implemented together would deliver the effect we seek. I have no doubt our tourism industry will consider this to be a meaningful measure that will help to boost the competitive advantage of our country in terms of attracting tourists and passengers.

I will focus on five questions concerning the legislation and two questions on its operation, particularly within the relevant airports. I emphasise I pose these questions in the context that this legislation is a welcome initiative that will make a difference in attracting tourists and passengers to this country.

My questions relate to the role of preclearance officers and to sections 13 to 15, inclusive. My first question is a simple one, namely, will preclearance officers be allowed to carry weapons in preclearance areas? This is not stated as a fact and is not identified in the legislation. Through this discussion we are beginning to understand how the legislation will operate. I would like the Minister to indicate whether any of the personnel in question will carry weapons on Irish soil or in the preclearance area.

My second question relates to section 13(1) which specifies that the preclearance officer shall be a national of the United State and assigned and posted to the State. Is it necessary that the people who will perform the role of preclearance officers must be American nationals? People who work in these airports are local people who would be aware of the importance of the preclearance area to the airport and to the broader region. I want clarification as to whether it is specified in this section that people who will perform this role need to be nationals of the United States. That appears to be the case from this section, but I would like the Minister to clarify that.

Section 13(5) provides that all documents that would be used within the preclearance area would be regarded as archives kept at a consulate within the meaning of the Consular Conventions Act 1954. Does that mean that any of the decisions made in this area or paperwork in this respect would be exempt from freedom of information requests. I note section 20 includes a reference to previous legislation in terms of the Freedom of Information Act 1997. Would any decisions that would be made on the operation of the preclearance area be covered by the Freedom of Information Act?

My fourth question relates to section 13(1), which indicates that a preclearance officer shall not be amendable to the jurisdiction of the judicial or administrative authorities of the State in respect of acts performed by him or her in the exercise of his or her functions. That appears to indicate that this officer will have a degree of diplomatic immunity. Will that be the case? Is that the norm when such officers are appointed here or in equivalent countries? It appears to be a relatively sweeping indemnity to give to an officer who will be performing this job in our country.

My final question relates to sections 14 and 15. Section 14 provides that an airport authority may charge a fee to air carriers and aircraft commanders availing of preclearance. Section 15 provides that the expenses incurred by the Minister in the administration of this Act shall be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas. If expenses are incurred by the taxpayer for the operation of these areas, for example, the provision of additional gardaí or other personnel, should there not be a mechanism to ensure the State can be reimbursed? It may be that such a mechanism is in existence or is provided for elsewhere in the Act, but I would appreciate clarification from the Minister in this regard.

Those were my main questions about the legislation. I also have two questions about the operation of the system, particularly by the airport authorities. As I said, it is clear the legislation will confer a smart competitive advantage on the airport authorities. I would like to ensure, through the Minister's offices and through the Department, that it makes good use of this. I have only been doing work of this kind over the last two years, but I get the sense that although great work is done to confer opportunities on bodies in the expectation they will make the most of them, we end up looking back and wondering what happened to them. There should be some mechanism in place to ensure the Department is happy with the way in which the system is implemented. Given that our Government had to go to the trouble of negotiating an agreement with the USA, we need to make sure we are getting the most out of it.

I note that the Dublin Airport Authority has indicated, with regard to Shannon Airport, that the current charge per passenger for miscellaneous services is €1.51 and that the fee for using the preclearance facility is to rise to €10.50 per passenger. The authority estimates the cost of providing this facility within Shannon will be around €20 million. I emphasise that a competitive advantage is being conferred on these bodies through the legislation. The last thing they should do is to nullify this by charging passengers unreasonable amounts for using the service. Whatever costs are incurred by the system, the first thing the authorities should do is to find out how they can cover that charge themselves to ensure the bare minimum is passed on to passengers making use of the services. As I said, it is obvious that the way out of our difficulties, particularly in industries such as tourism and aviation, will be through a collection of strong although perhaps small measures. It would be a pity if a measure such as this, which is clearly of great benefit, were nullified due to unreasonable charging of passengers.

The Bill is clearly to be welcomed. It contains many measures that will make a difference to the airports in the regions in question. I ask the Minister to respond to my points in his reply.