Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State and her officials for their perseverance, tenacity and ability to listen. As Senator Murphy said, there may have been a lot of turbulence in the air. The contributions of Senator Craughwell and my good friend, Senator Doherty, have lent to this Bill being debated. While there may be differences in the jets stream around what we are trying to achieve, ultimately, this Bill is about reform. In tandem with that, it is about safety, security, regulation and consumer protection. At the heart of our debate, in the nuances and amendments, the motivation has been about that.

Having served as the chair of a committee and being here 15 years, and hopefully mellowing and maturing a small bit, one has to listen to the wider engagement with – I hate using the word "stakeholder" – those involved and those in the know. While the Minister of State and those involved in the industry were very much of the view that this Bill should be passed as a matter of urgency, because it is extremely important, there was a need to engage. We need to give the Minister of State credit today. She listened and made amendments, notwithstanding the sincere views of my colleague, Senator Doherty, about the flaws. That is what our parliamentary democracy is about. The importance of pre-legislative scrutiny is making legislation better and ensuring that we ultimately achieve that.

I raised issues at the beginning of the Bill, having had representations from members of the staff around the vesting day and their rights and entitlements in the transfer. Our aviation sector is very important. We are an island nation dependent upon connectivity and dependent upon airlines. We are blessed. If one goes back to the Tuskar documentary on RTÉ recently, we have been very fortunate that we have had no similar type of event, notwithstanding the contribution Senator Craughwell made around the issues of search and rescue.

We must thank the men and women who work for us and serve with us in the context of our air rescue, our aviation in terms of air traffic control and our pilots and flight crew. What they do is extremely important.

I thank the Minister of State for her contribution, participation and engagement. I thank the Leas-Cathaoirleach for his chairing. I thank Senator Horkan, in his absence, who was in the Chair for much of the debate and did a tremendous job. I thank Senators Craughwell and Doherty for teasing out and making this Bill a better piece of legislation.