Seanad debates

Wednesday, 21 September 2022

Air Navigation and Transport Bill 2020: Committee Stage (Resumed)

 

10:30 am

Photo of Gerard CraughwellGerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I understand the Minister of State’s bona fides. However, in our wildest imagination, we cannot possibly say that we were compliant with anything leading up to the crash of Rescue 116. The air accident investigation report is damning of the operator, the Coast Guard, the IAA and the Minister of State’s Department. As my colleague just pointed out, two of the recommendations that were made about aviation expertise have gone totally and utterly disregarded. I have said this time and time again as we progressed through this Bill - you can contract out risk if you want, but you cannot contract out responsibility, and the Minister of State’s Department is responsible.

I would love somebody from ICAO to come in here this evening and tell me that they were very happy with everything up to 2017 in aviation in Ireland. If they were, they are as bad as the people who were damned in the AAIU report. This is not the Minister of State’s fault as she was not in office at that time. She should not try to defend it, because she was not in office. She was not there. The bottom line on it is that the report stands for everybody to read and it is damning.

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