Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

The House will have completed eight hours on Committee Stage of the Gaeltacht Bill. It is envisaged that Committee Stage will be concluded today and Report Stage next week.

Senator Brennan raised the problems associated with the Garda transport fleet and Senator Reilly made a similar point yesterday. The issues of law and order and robberies are debated at length in the joint policing committees which are working very well. I will arrange with the Minister for Justice and Equality to have a debate on crime statistics.

Senator Wilson proposed an amendment to the Order of Business to have the Minister, Deputy Bruton, come to the House to discuss the situation at Lagan Brick. The Minister was in the House less than one month ago when he addressed that matter at length which had been raised by Senator Wilson. I do not propose to agree to the amendment to the Order of Business as proposed and seconded.

Senator D'Arcy asked about the anomaly in the pay rates for child care staff. I suggest he raise the matter on the Adjournment. I note the majority of increments are paid to people on low pay and I agree with him that the higher paid should be targeted. Senator Norris and also Senator Keane raised the matter of the pilot training college. The Irish Aviation Authority regulates, approves and oversees flight training organisations. Its primary functions in this regard are that oversight, safety, quality and standard of training be delivered, and the conduct of examination and flight tests. It also has the capacity to seek evidence that organisations have sufficient resources in place to conduct training and approve standards. The pilot training college in Waterford is such a flight training organisation and also has a pilot training college in Melbourne and Florida to take advantage of the better weather and visual flight operations. Students undergoing training in Florida normally return to Ireland to complete the multi-engine, multi-crew instrument rating to European standards.

The pilot training college in Waterford has a contract in place with the Florida Institute of Technology to deliver the flight training in Florida. On 26 June, the Irish Aviation Authority was informed that the Florida Institute of Technology was ceasing all training activities in Florida due to a commercial dispute concerning payments. The Irish Aviation Authority immediately sent a senior inspector to establish the training situation and he has met the students in question. There are approximately 180 students in the Florida facility and 37 in Waterford at various stages of training. The students comprise sponsored students from international airlines and those with individual commercial contracts. Students have paid the pilot training college in Waterford for training and the college has a personal relationship with Florida Institute of Technology to provide flight and ground training. Contracts between the self-sponsored or the airline sponsor students in their training organisations are a matter outside the remit of the Irish Aviation Authority. The matter is being address and, I hope the students will be accommodated. Certainly assurances should be given that sufficient funding is available to continue the operations at Waterford given that the operations at the Florida Institute of Technology have ceased. Given the training the students have received they should be accredited for the work they have done and steps are being taken to ensure that happens.

Senator Denis Landy raised the issue of the restructuring of IDA Ireland, on which I will seek to arrange a debate.

With Senators Paul Coghlan, Michael Mullins and Catherine Noone, the Senator also raised the funding of the independent broadcasting sector in Ireland. I will endeavour to have the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Pat Rabbitte, come to the House to debate the matter.

Senator Mark Daly asked the reason the president of the US-Ireland Alliance did not appear before the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade. As that is a matter for the committee I do not propose to comment further.

Senator Feargal Quinn noted that Dublin is at the centre of the science world this week. He also mentioned a ban on the advertising of cheese. It is ridiculous that somebody would suggest we should not advertise cheese.

Senator Cáit Keane said that the fact that the National Treasury Management Agency was going to the markets was a positive sign. We would all agree that this morning's successful auction of three-month treasury bills by the National Treasury Management Agency was an important milestone on Ireland's continuing path to recovery. The yield on the bonds at 1.8% was very competitive against its peer group and market commentators were agreed that any level under 2% would be considered a good result. Demand was strong among investors.

This is the first time the NTMA has raised money in the markets since September 2010 and highlights the significant progress the Government has made in restoring Ireland's reputation. The markets have reacted positively to our strong programme implementation to date, to the decisive "Yes" vote in the recent referendum on the stability treaty and the decision taken at last week's summit to break the negative links between the sovereign and the banks. This has been seen by the yields in the long term Government bonds which have been halved in the past 12 months, making Irish bonds the best performing sovereign bond in the eurozone in the past year. The Government is certainly focused on emerging from the programme and returning to the markets next year. Today's return to the treasury bill market is a small but important first step in this regard. The Government will continue to take the necessary measures to fully implement the programme and reduce the deficit in line with our commitments. That was a positive development this morning in respect of the NTMA.

In response to Senator Rónán Mullen's query, I am not going to get involved in a debate on student politics.