Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State but there are a number of issues here. First, having the Minister appoint a chief executive officer to the IAA when the Minister does not have aviation expertise within his or her Department is a matter of great concern. In fact, I am deeply concerned about anything that goes on in the Department of Transport at the moment while we are without aviation expertise. We have hashed this out over and over again, over several months, and notwithstanding the fact that the air traffic investigation unit has pointed out the need for aviation expertise within the Department, the Government still has not appointed an aviation expert. It strikes me that we are bringing in consultants to assist us with various issues within the Department and the Minister or Minister of State may contract in consultants to mitigate risk but what they cannot do is contract in responsibility. The responsibility stops at the Minister of State's desk or at the Minister's desk at any given time.

A seven year term is very long in any business. If we end up getting a bum steer at some stage, we will be stuck with that person for seven years. It is extremely difficult, notwithstanding the fact that there is an opportunity there for the directors to act, in this world to remove a CEO once he or she has been appointed. The period of time involved is too long and that is why I proposed a five-year term. Again, I go back to my concern about the lack of aviation expertise right the way through this Bill. That is not the Minister of State's fault. She is just the person fronting up this Bill but at the end of the day, it will have her name on it for eternity, as the person who brought the Bill to and through this House. I have deep concerns and I will keep expressing those concerns. There are no aviators in the Department of Transport so we are relying on the people for whom we are writing the legislation to advise. The regulators are regulating themselves for all intents and purposes and I have huge difficulty with this.