Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Following on from what Senator Doherty said, I am long enough around and have worked in enough organisations in my life to know that when there is a very broad church such as the Minister of State is proposing, it is possible to manipulate the way in which a forum works. Interested parties may be brought together in order that the voices of the minority group are drowned out. We are talking about air safety, which requires the input of pilots, who witness near misses every day of the week, engineers, who are responsible for the maintenance of the aircraft, and air traffic controllers, who have the difficult task of ensuring aircraft fly across our skies. The number of aircraft that fly over Ireland every day is astronomical. One need only look to the sky any morning at 7 o'clock or any afternoon from about 3 o'clock onwards. I cannot accept, for example, that cabin crew would have a role in safety at the level we are talking about for licenceholders. I cannot accept ground crew would have a role in discussing the type of air safety we are debating.

Like Senator Doherty, I think the Minister of State's argument about having a wider group is a great idea but not for this critical safety measure. Only the three relevant groups should be involved in that. I hate to go back to this but if the Minister of State had an aviator on her staff, that is what he or she would recommend. This is one of the grave concerns I have about the legislation. That is my position and I will not change it.