Regina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

"Interesting" is a positive word.

I am sorry to be pernickety. I certainly was not questioning the Minister of State's ability to contact the Irish Aviation Authority and to ask its advice. What I am asking is why the Minister of State took a different approach with regard to one set of new regulations she is introducing for the IAA around search and rescue but did not seem to deem it necessary to get expert advice on the other set of new regulations that we are proposing be introduced for the IAA. I do not have a problem with the Minister of State speaking to them in any way, shape or form. What I am asking is why the Minister of State only spoke to them in respect of our set of new regulations that were to be introduced when she saw fit to, in the Minister of State's words, use a "different approach" by getting external aviation expertise with regard to the new regulations she is introducing for the IAA in this Bill.

For the record, in case anybody thinks that I do not support the Minister of State, I very much welcome her statement that she supports a national peer support programme. However, having been stalled to some degree on Committee Stage for over a year now, we have had a year to consider what we could do with peer support in the same reflective way the Minister of State has spent the past year reflecting on the-----