Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Along with others I join in expressing sympathy to Senator Hoey on the passing of her father.

I want to raise two issues. The first is the spiralling cost of oil and gas fuel for aviation, transport and home heating. It is having a significant impact on economic activity and it will certainly lead to fuel poverty. This is happening at a time we have, rightly, adopted carbon pricing. The budget will require an increase in the cost of carbon, which will have an impact on fuel. What is important is that the Government ensures there is an appropriate safety mechanism for people on low incomes and not just for people who are getting the fuel allowance. There has to be a lot of work done on this. I would welcome a debate in the House. We need to consider some kind of rebate scheme. When carbon taxing was introduced, the expectation was that oil and gas prices would remain relatively stable because demand was expected to reduce in line with the direction of travel of eliminating carbon from our environment. This has not happened. As a result of the pandemic, costs have spiralled. We need a debate in the House to address this at the earliest opportunity.

Over the weekend, there was significant commentary in the media about an internal dispute in the Irish Aviation Authority, IAA, among air traffic controllers. Like others in the House, I have been contacted about this. The scale of the contact is immense. Many people are very concerned about what is going on in the authority. Yesterday, the transport committee decided to write the Minister, Deputy Ryan, asking him to appoint Kieran Mulvey as an interlocutor to try to find a resolution to the crisis. It is not just any other internal relations issue. This is air traffic control. We cannot afford to have a period of instability or anything that might happen that would raise issues of safety of personnel or within the aviation sector. It is paramount that the Minister responds. Perhaps there is an opportunity for the Deputy Leader to communicate with the Minister the desire of the House to support the wishes of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport and Communications.