Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Before I make my comments, the Minister of State has referred to the people who were consulted on Bills relating to all sorts of areas that have passed through the Houses of the Oireachtas. That is good, and I do not have a problem with that. However, I have a problem if we go to an agency and ask it to write the legislation to regulate itself. She spoke about search and rescue, SAR, particularly and the expertise that is available to the Department on SAR. I assume we are talking about the same company. Aerossurance is the only adviser she has on SAR. If it is, that is a one-man operation for a massive contract and a massive series of issues that have to be overseen. I note that the Department recently tendered for an expert for the next SAR contract, and that is due in at the end of this month.

My amendments speak to the importance of consulting with all relevant stakeholders. It is clear that the Department has not done this in preparing the Bill. Certain provisions of the Bill along with sections of the legislation which implement the EASA basic regulations are based on the air accident investigation unit R116 report, which drew attention to the lack of technical expertise. It is ironic that legislation which is partially based on a report that drew attention to the lack of technical expertise has not been appropriately reviewed by people with technical expertise.

The Bill has been passed by the Dáil. It was initiated on 4 December 2020. It was considered by the Select Committee on Transport and Communications, and it is currently before the Seanad on Committee Stage. Not once have the Houses of the Oireachtas obtained independent technical advice on this Bill. As parliamentarians, we must acknowledge that there are certain types of legislation where expertise is needed. Regarding Irish neutrality, there was talk of a citizens' assembly in which a group of civilians would be presiding over whether Ireland should be neutral, militarily non-aligned or aligned with a bloc such NATO. It is reckless to pass legislation on important matters such as this without consulting experts. On 29 June 2022, the Minister of State attended the Seanad. It was her understanding that there is no member of staff within the Department with such technical expertise. The Department will often commission advice about a Bill but on this occasion it did not do so. Instead it relied on the technical expertise of the Irish Aviation Authority in the preparation of the Bill, notwithstanding the fact that the Bill is intended to regulate that authority. What could possibly go wrong there?

The Minister of State must consult with all relevant stakeholders to ensure the proper implementation of the EASA regulation. She said she engaged with IALPA and the IAA, and she has engaged with us on a number of occasions. In fairness to her, she has engaged but she has not listened, or at least the officials who are advising her have not listened.