Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. Tá a fhios agam go bhfuil sé an-ghnóthach sa Dáil. Mar sin, tá mé an-bhuíoch go bhfuil sé ag caitheamh a chuid ama anseo.

The Minister of State knows that I have spoken with him about this issue in one-to-one meetings in Connemara. I hope the Minister of State can give us an update on the air service to the Aran Islands that can reassure the islanders that they will have a service as of 1 October in the short term and in the future. The air service to which I am referring is a airplane service. They want a fixed-wing aircraft from Minna in Connemara. Nothing else will suit them and to be fair, they are the end users. They are the customers and any reasonable public official or Department would take the end users' needs into account. The Minister of State knows that Aer Arann's contract expires at the end of this month. That is in six days' time so I would like him to address that question. Will there be an air service as of 1 October?

I presume the Minister of State knows that as of yesterday, councillors on Galway County Council voted unanimously to block the use of Galway Airport for the provision of air services to the Aran Islands after 15 December so the preferred tenderer that his Department has chosen has no airport to fly from. In that case, the preferred tenderer was a helicopter service which in any case is not the wish of the islanders.

I will run through a few separate points. The islanders' requirements were never taken into account when drawing up the tender document - why? The issue of respect is fundamental here. The Minister of State knows that they want their service from Connemara because it gives them choice in the sense that the boat is nearby. If they miss the plane, they have the boat. There is no other way to get to the islands. You have to cross water. I was in Inis Meáin at the weekend. You are always rushing to the boat. I live beside Galway Airport - the airport with the preferred tender. It took me one hour and 15 minutes to get to the boat on a Sunday morning at 9 a.m. It would take a minimum of two hours with the traffic in Galway city to get from Galway Airport to Rossaveal in the event that someone needed to get the boat instead of a plane if the helicopter did not work out.

Galway Airport is unsuitable for the needs of the islanders for the reasons I have outlined. No other regular offshore island service in Europe is supplied by helicopter. The Scottish islands are the ones that are most similar to the Aran Islands and they have many island air services. All Scottish islands are served by fixed-wing aircraft known as the "Islander". They are preferred for their reliability and safety in open Atlantic conditions. There is an issue here about crossing water. I have spoken to people who have worked in helicopter services for 20 years and they have told me that helicopters are quite reliable on land but are not as reliable over water. If they have to land, they turn upside down. I looked at the statistics as well and in Ireland, there is some statistical information to show that helicopters are less safe than fixed-wing aircraft. Feeling safe matters to people.

Look at the human stories. The Minister of State knows that there is a massive campaign here that is not going to stop. My question to him concerns how he is going to resolve it and when. Will he take the wishes of the islanders into account? A woman appeared on "Prime Time" last week. I did not see the programme. She is 80 years of age and was very upset. She has not used any form of transport other than the plane for the past 45 years. Some older people on the islands are telling me that they will not make their appointments or go to Galway University Hospital if they have to take the boat. They have come to rely on the air service and they are happier that way. A woman with diabetes gets sick if she goes on a boat so her life or health could be put at risk if she vomited, for example. There are people attending Galway University Hospital for chemotherapy and stroke victims whose preferred mode of transport is a air service. They deserve equality of treatment. Surely we need the options. When it comes to an air service, their wish is for a fixed-wing airplane from Connemara Airport in Minna. That is the requirement. Will the Minister of State put this out to tender again because the preferred tender has fallen apart?