Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I do not deny or reject anything the Minister of State is saying. However, for the life of me, I cannot understand what a certificate holder, for instance, will bring to the forum that would in any way change the outcome compared with having only pilots, air traffic controllers and mechanics involved. There is such a wide list. I would love to have that list, go through it line by line and have the Minister of State explain to me what each of these people would bring to the table in a forum. We are talking about safety and we have a track record in this country of ignoring pilots and the complaints they raise and the safety issues about which they have concerns. In fairness, I will qualify that by saying I refer specifically to the report on Rescue 116. If one company can do what was done in that instance, others can do the same.

The whole point is to have the input of the experts who are in the air, the experts who make sure the machines are capable of going into the air and the people who monitor those aircraft as they fly from A to B. They are the three critical groups and organisations involved in air safety. All the rest are nice add-ons but they are not involved at the same level. If the Minister of State were to go through the list she read out a few minutes ago and tell me what each group on that list will bring to the table by way of expertise, maybe I could accept this provision. I cannot accept it the way it is and I do not think anybody in their right mind would do so.