Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Returning to the stakeholder forum the Minister of State spoke of, if we were to call a meeting of that group we would probably need a hotel to accommodate the representatives from all the different agencies mentioned. The key thing is that pilots have concerns about lighting at airports when they are landing and taking off, as well as concerns about various other things. The Minister of State will also recall the destruction of a Concorde aircraft as it attempted to take off from an airport in Paris. A piece of metal on the runway apparently punctured the fuel tank and caused that aircraft to be lost. Regarding pilots and mechanics, the forum we are recommending in amendment No. 1 deals specifically with those working at the coalface in this regard. I have no difficulty with the Minister of State setting up a separate stakeholder forum that would allow for much broader discussion, but the licence holders forum is a key part of any safety mechanism. I am not going to harp on about the lack of expertise in the Department, but it would be good if the Minister of State just said she did not have anyone who is a qualified expert in the Department.