Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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1606. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the implications the European Commission’s proposed Single European Sky will have for all Irish airports and the Irish Aviation Authority; the number of submissions and the number of comments his Department received in view of the recent consultation process that concluded on 6 September 2013; the way his Department reached out to numerous stakeholders in order to receive a wide field of submissions that will feed into Ireland's negotiations plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37041/13]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Single European Sky (SES) is a policy initiative agreed in 2004 with the central objective of reforming and improving the performance of air traffic management in Europe. The Commission's current legislative proposals are designed to accelerate the achievement of these policy objectives.  Whilst air traffic management is a key element in the overall air transport market and thus impacts on stakeholders such as airports and airspace users, the implications of these proposals relate principally to the thirty seven air navigation service providers across Europe, including the Irish Aviation Authority.   Given the over-riding performance improvement focus of the SES initiative, the main implications for service providers will be the continued achievement of further efficiencies in the delivery of their navigation services to their customer airlines, airports and other airspace users. The Irish Aviation Authority is already one of the most efficient providers, compared to its European peers, and its charges are amongst the lowest in Europe. In relation to the implications for airports, only Dublin Airport exceeds the traffic threshold of  70,000 air transport movements per annum and accordingly other Irish airports are largely unaffected by this Single European Sky legislative package, apart from some general provisions concerning certification requirements with regard to the safety, quality and security of air navigation services (principally air traffic control) provided at these airports.

My Department circulated these proposals to a wide range of stakeholders in the Irish aviation sector. The technical nature of the proposals warranted a targeted approach to those stakeholders principally concerned with airspace utilisation and optimisation. Comments were invited from over 40 organisations and comments were received from five.  My Department is in the process of analysing these submissions and envisages that they will be an important and helpful contribution in the negotiations on these proposals.