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

The IAA can restrict, suspend and revoke a licence, in full or in part, where there is a failure to comply with the regulatory requirements. It has done this. Also, the withdrawal of particular parts of a licence in respect of instances identified in the context of non-compliance relating to part of a licence is an effective and proportionate enforcement mechanism. It is important to state that administrative financial sanctions are more suited to economic regulatory roles. I can give examples of other Departments that have administrative financial sanctions. These examples relate to economic regulation, not safety regulation, as is the case in the Bill under discussion. Four examples of administrative financial sanctions in statute are section 10 of the Central Bank and Financial Services Act 2004; sections 52 to 56 of the Broadcasting Act 2009, which pertain to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland; sections 5 and 6 of the Energy Act 2016, which concerns the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities; and sections 137 to 143 and Schedule 3 of the Data Protection Act 2018, which pertains to the Data Protection Commission. These all relate to economic regulations, not to safety regulatory roles.

Section 74 adds to the enforcement armoury of the IAA by providing for fixed-charge offences in respect of summary offences specified by the Minister after consultation with the Minister for Justice. This instrument is intended to assist the IAA in addressing the issue of the misuse of drones rather than the more compliant airlines sector.