Regina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

One of the recommendations of the AAIU, arising from a really serious accident which resulted in lost lives of loved people in this country, highlighted the fact that the Department does not have sufficient specialist aviation expertise to enable it to discharge effective oversight of the full range of IAA activities. The Department on two occasions accepted every single recommendation that was put to it yet we are still standing here with probably the biggest piece of legislation we are going to conduct for the aviation industry and the Minister of State is telling us that the experts who came to be relied upon to draft this legislation are the very people we are looking to regulate in the industry. It does not make any sense. It really undermines the authority of the Department that they are drafting legislation to govern a State body that has been providing the Department with all the information. It would not happen in any other Department or sector. It galls me that the Minister of State would stand here and think it is okay.