Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Ms Cara Hunter, MLA, and Dr. James Wilson to the House. It is great to see them here. I congratulate Ms Hunter on her election and Dr. Wilson on his support for that election.

Last week we had the Air Navigation and Transport Bill 2020 before the House. I do not wish to rehash the debate but on 29 June, the Department of Transport issued a tender seeking an aviation consultancy service relating to the competition for the provision of an Irish Coast Guard aviation service. Are we really going to appoint an agent for our next search and rescue service? I have been harping on about this for two years, if not more. It is absolutely diabolical to think we are about to engage in another search and rescue contract when four people lost their lives because of the lack of oversight of the previous contract. We are about to go to tender on this.

I understand that in contempt of the Oireachtas committee a tender has already gone out and the Secretary General of the Department has refused on four occasions to come before the committee to discuss the process that has brought us to the point we are at. It is simply unacceptable behaviour. I wonder, at this stage, to whom the Civil Service is answerable. Have we in the Oireachtas a role at all or are we just here to rubber-stamp whatever comes our way? It is diabolical that the Department of Transport is engaging in anything to do with aviation when it has no expertise to support it in the area.

On a related matter of aviation, my colleague, Deputy Cathal Berry, has made the point that soldiers are being brought from Donegal to Dublin to assist Dublin Airport Authority. They should at the very least be paid €10.50 per hour for every hour they are on the road. If it is a 24-hour duty, they should be paid €10.50 per hour on top of their salaries. What is being done here is an insult to anybody who ever wore a uniform.

Dublin Airport Authority has the support of this State and the State supported businesses through Covid-19 like no other state in Europe. Dublin Airport Authority took an opportune moment to get rid of a load of people and I have heard its representatives on radio talking about the difficulty they have in recruiting people. It is absolutely unacceptable. Today we heard on Claire Byrne's radio show that it will take two hours for passengers on any flight coming in to recover their bags, if they are lucky. They will be two hours waiting in the arrivals hall to get a bag.It is totally unacceptable. For once we actually have to stand up for the Government on this one. The Government put the supports in place for all of these companies and the Dublin Airport Authority threw it back in the face of the Government and took the opportunity to get rid of the cheapest labour it has. Now it wants to use the Defence Forces for a job. It should hire private security companies and see what they will charge. Using soldiers for this kind of work is totally unacceptable.