Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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1167. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his views on security inspections of aircraft which traditionally were carried out by his Department's inspectors but passed to the Irish Aviation Authority in 2013, in terms of whether any departmental oversight occurs; the number of such inspections that were carried out; if any payments were made by the authority to his Department during this time; and the basis on which the moneys were paid. [37522/15]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Aviation security at Irish and other EU airports is governed by EU Regulation, specifically Council Regulation (EC) 300/2008 and Commission Regulation (EU) 185/2010.  These Regulations are legally binding and are fully reflected in the National Civil Aviation Security Programme (NCASP) for which my Department has responsibility.

Under S.I. 551/2012, the IAA is responsible for monitoring compliance by operators for the purposes of the EU Regulations. Regulation 300/2008 requires each Member State to submit to the Commission, on an annual basis, a report of the compliance monitoring activities conducted in the State.  These reports are reviewed by the Commission in the context of its ongoing aviation security inspectorate compliance monitoring programme.

The IAA also reports on compliance monitoring to the National Civil Aviation Securty Committee which is chaired by my Department and meets bi-annually at a minimum.

With regard to the number of inspections conducted in the period since the IAA took over responsibility for compliance monitoring, I have referred that question to the IAA for direct reply. I would ask the Deputy to contact my office if a reply has not been received within ten days.

In relation to payments made by the IAA to the Department during this time, the IAA pays a policy-related cost in respect of the various activities of the Department related to the functions of the IAA, including the departmental staff and overhead costs of the security oversight functions.