Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 299: To ask the Minister for Transport further to Parliamentary Question No. 1115 of 27 September 2006, if his decision to seek to implement the essential elements of the transitional Ireland-US bilateral arrangement from November 2006 outside of an agreed EU-US open skies agreement is contrary to the judgment of the European Court of Justice in 2002 that nationality clauses in existing bilateral aviation agreements between EU countries and the US were inconsistent with member states' obligations under the Treaty of Rome; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31258/06]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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A transition period for phasing out our Shannon Stop requirement between November 2006 and March 2008 was built into the November 2005 EU-US agreement. The transitional arrangements negotiated with the EU US agreement offer significant benefits to Irish tourism and business interests opening up three new destinations in the US for Irish airlines. While we await the outcome of the US rulemaking process on ownership and control we are very concerned at any delay in commencing that transition period.

As stated in my reply to the previous question referred to by the Deputy, in the absence of progress at EU level I intend to seek to implement, the essential elements of the transitional arrangements by way of an amendment to the Ireland-US bilateral Air Services Agreement. It should be stressed that this will be done in accordance with the applicable Community law.

The European Court of Justice ruling on nationality clauses is a separate matter that applies to existing bilateral agreements and one of the objectives of the proposed EU US Open skies deal is to resolve this issue on a community-wide basis.