Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Ireland enjoys a strong position on the ICAO league table for the effective implementation of global aviation standards, which place Ireland in eighth position in the world ranking of 193 states and in second position among EU member states. Ireland's compliance with ICAO standards and recommended practices is subject to audit by the ICAO under its universal safety oversight audit programme.

In 2013, the ICAO refocused its audit problem to a continuous monitoring approach to states' safety oversight systems. This continuous monitoring approach includes compliance checklists for standards and recommendations practices, SARPs, for all 19 ICAO annexes. There are currently over 12,200 SARPs, which include the facility for the filing of differences by states through a web-based platform known as the online framework, OLF. The IAA and the Department of Transport are responsible for updating the relevant annexes on the OLF, in accordance with the respective responsibilities assigned to them under the Schedule to the Irish Aviation Authority Act 1993.

Ireland's responses to ICAO's SARPs are subject to EU co-ordination. This means that we must await a co-ordinated response to be developed and agreed at an EU level prior to submitting to the OLF. The ICAO SARPs also need to be transposed into the regulatory framework. In the vast majority of cases, this means the EU regulatory framework. This is part of the European Union aviation safety agency, EASA, rule making programme. EASA provides pre-filled ICAO compliance checklists to each member state to assess the status of the EASA regulations against the latest ICAO annexe amendments.

The compliance checklists are subject to continuous monitoring by the ICAO. As the ICAO annexe amendments and the EU regulatory framework are continuously evolving, the information in the continuous monitoring approach system is always in a state of transition. An annual audit report of this activity would represent a snapshot in time and the associated information may be quickly out of date. It should be noted that section 67 of the Bill requires the IAA to prepare and submit to the Minister by 30 April each year a safety aviation performance statement. Section 67(3) requires that a statement to include details of the activities carried out during the relevant year and the outcome and follow-up from external oversight in regard to the universal safety oversight audit programme of the ICAO be provided. Section 67(5) requires the Minister to lay the performance statement before the Houses of the Oireachtas within one month of receipt from the IAA.Given these existing mechanisms, I do not propose to accept amendment No. 3l.