Regina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On Committee Stage we agreed to establish the forum which is now a stakeholders' forum rather than a licenceholders' forum. It is a very large group of people which has value in the sharing of information, particularly around safety. However, I am concerned that a very large group of people are now responsible for creating and drafting a licenceholders' charter. We know how important the licenceholders' charter is in steering and establishing a roadmap, guidance and all the regulatory frameworks that we expect our licence operators and holders to adhere to. We speak of the pinnacle of safety and this charter is the cream of the crop.

We are sitting in a large Seanad at the moment and we have all sat at committees where the larger the number of people on the committee the less productive it is, unfortunately. When there is so specific a job as creating a licenceholders' charter it should be a very small, focused and targeted group that, first, provides the information that feeds into the charter based on best practice, research and everything that we would expect and adhere to. It has to be a focused group and have a limited timeframe to provide the charter because if we leave it to the stakeholders' forum, we will be sitting here in a couple of years and still have no charter because the forum, which at least has agreed to meet twice a year, does not have the capacity to do that.

The Minister of State proposes that the company shall, as soon as practicable and after consultation with the forum, publish a charter. To my mind, that wording is extremely loose. It does not really give any imperative or directive or give credibility to an extremely important document or licence to the people who own the licences that operate our airlines and carriers in this country. Therefore, I have tabled an amendment to make a substitution for that section 4 in relation to the first meeting of the stakeholders' forum which will comprise a large number of people. Once the chair is elected, hopefully by the forum members and not the CEO, the first meeting should set up a licenceholders' forum as a sub-committee. We refer to that as the "Licence holder’s sub-forum". It should comprise representatives of the actual licenceholders in Ireland and also include, but not necessarily be limited to, all of our operators, pilots, cabin crew, engineers, air traffic controllers and anybody who has any input or involvement in the safe operation of aircraft carriers, airlines, operators and everything related to the safety of passengers and crew. I hope that the licenceholders' sub-forum would meet at least twice a year or as frequently as required in order to establish a licenceholders' charter as quickly as possible. We use language in law like "as soon as is practicable". To my mind, this is something that is incredibly important and urgent and I am not alone in that thinking. All our pilots and the current licenceholders share that view. I want that very targeted sub-committee to develop procedures for the operation of our licenceholders' forum and then to submit it to both the company, I assume the chair designate will have a representative on this sub-committee, and also the Minister of State so that she can see exactly what their objectives are.

I want them to develop a licenceholders' charter at the earliest possible opportunity. That should be no later than six months from the establishment of the forum. I do not think that is cutting it too fine. When it is developed, we should give it to the company and the Minister of State again for their perusal. I would then like the licenceholders' charter to be made legal within 12 months. There may be need for further engagement back and forth with the Department even though it does not have any aviation experts, as further interaction may be necessary.

The licenceholders would like to see this regulatory charter enabled and enacted no later than 12 months after the establishment of the overall stakeholders' forum. Therefore, for this to work well, we need the company to provide the facilities in order to host the meetings and to give them secretarial services. I do not think it asks too much. It asks a lot to expect a stakeholders' forum of maybe more than 40 or 50 organisations to have the wherewithal and directions to do what we seek, that is, to have a licenceholders' charter up and running within six months and legislated for within 12 months.