Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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575. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his views on whether a declaration from a company (details supplied) to the US Department of Transport that all the crews employed in this operation would, whatever their nationality, be employed on EU or US contracts of employment under normal EU and US labour laws, be of great assistance in removing the objections of many who oppose the application. [28367/16]

Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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577. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will consider leading or arranging a senior delegation to travel to Washington to lobby for the granting of a licence for the Cork-Boston route, noting the recent decision by the Northern Ireland Assembly to invest over €9 million to secure a transatlantic connection with the North of Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28548/16]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 575 and 577 together.

This matter has been raised with the US authorities on a number of occasions at the highest level. On 2 August last I wrote to the US Secretary of Transportation, Anthony Foxx, urging him to make a positive decision on Norwegian Air International's permit application without any further delay, in accordance with the provisions of the EU-US Open Skies Agreement. The 2½ year delay by the US authorities in making a decision on NAI's permit application is not acceptable. I and my Department continue to liaise closely with the European Commission regarding the matter. The next step in resolving the issue is for the Commission to initiate a formal arbitration under Article 19 of the EU-US Open Skies Agreement. I would fully support such a step.

The EU-US Open Skies Agreement Joint Committee will meet again in November, which will provide a further opportunity for the matter to be raised with the US side.

In the meantime, this issue could be immediately resolved if the US authorities grant NAI its permit, so that the airline can start operating the new route from Cork to Boston and other new transatlantic routes.