Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

350. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the working groups his Department has with industry; the members of the groups; and the way the members of each group were selected. [51313/21]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Details of the working groups my Department has with industry are provided below:

National Air Transport Facilitation Committee (NATFaC)

Annex 9 to the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation embodies the Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) and guidance material pertaining specifically to the facilitation of landside formalities for clearance of aircraft and passengers, goods and mail, with respect to the requirements of customs, immigration, public health and agriculture authorities. Standard 8.19 of Annex 9 sets out that each Contracting State shall establish a National Air Transport Facilitation Committee (NATFaC) for the purpose of coordinating facilitation activities between departments, agencies, and other organizations of the State concerned with, or responsible for, various aspects of international civil aviation as well as with airport and aircraft operators.

Meetings of the NATFaC have been convened twice annually since 2012, with ad hoc meetings of the committee convened where necessary. In 2013 a Facilitation Sub-Group on Airport Immigration Matters was established with meetings of the sub-group convened one to two times annually.

The relevant organisations were asked by the Department of Transport to nominate suitable candidates for membership of the Committee. There are representative on the Committee from the following organisations: The Department of Justice, the Irish Passenger Information Unit, an Garda Síochana, The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, The Department of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Health, the Health Service Executive, the Revenue Commissioners, the Commission for Aviation Regulation, US Customs and Border Protection, the IAA, daa, Shannon Airport Authority, Ireland West Airport Knock, Donegal Airport, Cork Airport, Kerry Airport, Aer Lingus, Ryanair, ASL Airlines, Norwegian Airlines, Skyhandling Partner and Swissport.

Regulatory Working Group of the National Civil Aviation Development Forum (NCADF)

Within the structure of the National Civil Aviation Development Forum (NCADF), which is chaired by my  Department, is a Regulatory Working Group. The group was established at the direction of the Steering Committee and members include government officials (Department of Transport) and stakeholders in the aviation industry such as Aer Lingus, Ryanair, daa, CAR, Ireland West Airport, Shannon Group, IAA and IBEC.

National Civil Aviation Security Committee (NCASC)

The National Civil Aviation Security Committee  is a standing Committee which was constituted in 1974. The Committee comprises representatives of Government Departments, Irish Airports, Irish airlines, An Garda Síochána, the Defence Forces, An Post, Customs & Excise, the Irish Aviation Authority, and the Irish Airline Pilots Association. The Committee is established under the National Civil Aviation Security Programme which is classified on security grounds.  The National Civil Aviation Security Committee also has a Working Group on Threat and Risk which comprises of members of the main Committee.

Labour Employer Economic Forum (LEEF)

The Labour Employer Economic Forum (LEEF) sub-group on aviation consists of Departmental officials, and also IBEC and ICTU members as well as Aer Lingus and Shannon Group. 

Advisory Committee on SPSVs  

The Advisory Committee on Small Public Service Vehicles (the Committee) is an independent body established and operated under the provisions of section 72 of the Taxi Regulation Act 2013. The functions of the Committee are set out in section 73 of the Taxi Regulation Act 2013. Its primary function is to provide advice, as appropriate, to the National Transport Authority (NTA) and to me, as Minister, in relation to issues relevant to small public service vehicles (SPSVs) and their drivers.

Details of the membership of the Advisory Committee on Small Public Service Vehicles is available here:

www.nationaltransport.ie/about-us/advisory-committee-on-spsvs/.

Shipping Stakeholders

This working group was selected on the basis of the impacts of Brexit on their services and organisations.

- P & O Ferries

- Seatruck Ferries

- Irish Ferries

- Stena Line

- CMA- CGM

- Brittany Ferries

- Arklow Shipping Ltd

- DFDS

- CLDN

- BG Freight

- Samsskip

Haulage and Logistics Stakeholders

This working group was also selected on the basis of the impacts of Brexit on their services and organisations.

- Freight Transport Association of Ireland (FTAI)

- Freightlink

- Reynolds Logistics

- Irish Exporters Association

- Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA)

- Wells Cargo

Port and shipping companies

My Department engages regularly with other relevant stakeholders including ports and shipping companies.  It has held and will continue to hold forums with stakeholders to discuss matters affecting the maritime transport sector when required.

Consultative National Maritime Pollution Response Forum

The Consultative National Maritime Pollution Response Forum is a group of external stakeholders, including private sector and non-governmental organizations.

This group is convened by the IRCG on an ad hoc basis but typically closely following meetings of the National Maritime Pollution Response Committee.

The Forum enables IRCG to consider feedback from non-statutory stakeholders concerning relevant issues arising from NMPRC’s discussions and implementation of the NCP.

Members of this Forum were selected based on a) their expertise and b) their interest and involvement in the Forum’s work. Private sector pollution response provides were selected on the basis of their having contracts with the State to provide services and/or on the basis that they were the main/large providers in the maritime pollution response field. Offshore development associations were selected on the basis of the requirement for offshore installations to have Oil/HNS Spill Contingency Plans and their representativeness of the sector.

National Search and Rescue (SAR) Consultative Committee

This Committee aims to provide a national forum for Ireland’s SAR Stakeholders operating at a tactical and operational level to promote cooperation, information exchange, best practice and continuous improvement. 

Members of this Committee were selected based on a) membership of previous versions of this Committee, b) their expertise and c) their interest and involvement in the Committee’s work.