Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I second Senator Sherlock's amendment to the Order of Business. The Rescue 116 families are confronted with the possibility of massive legal costs. I have raised the Rescue 116 incident several times here and the failure to deliver a report. It is outrageous that these families are being called upon to pay for their legal costs. I do not believe they were the people who initiated the review; that was the operator who has, according to the Comptroller and Auditor General, benefited from as much as €7 million in State money to upgrade their aircraft and bring them in compliance for night vision. That was in 2013 and to this day they have not fully implemented that, which is horrendous. The House should call on the Minister for Transport to stand by the families in this case and protect them and protect their assets.

On a related matter, a new air regulator has been appointed. I am deeply disturbed that the regulator has moved from one of the major airlines directly into the regulator's job. There has been no cooling-off period that I am aware of. It is just bad business. I would like the Minister for Transport to come to the House to debate that. We should also have the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform before the House too. We need to reform how people in senior positions on State boards are interviewed by various Oireachtas committees after they have been appointed, with no real methodology for us to say we do not want this person. We must look at these senior appointments urgently.