Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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293. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will implement strict rules for the protection of mobility devices, including wheelchairs by passenger airlines, requiring a guarantee that the user will be able to access the device on arrival at their destination; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1844/25]

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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Irish airports and airlines must comply with European Union Regulation (EC) 1107/2006 concerning the rights of disabled persons and persons with reduced mobility when travelling by air (“Regulation 1107”). The objective of this Regulation is to ensure “high and equivalent levels of protection and assistance throughout the Member States and to ensure that economic agents operate under harmonised conditions in a single market.” The Irish Aviation Authority ("IAA”) is the National Enforcement Body for Regulation 1107.

In respect of the carriage of mobility and health aids, each airline has individual ground handling policies regarding the carriage of baggage and other items. Airlines must also comply with national legislation regarding safety. With regards to Regulation 1107, airlines are obliged to carry, in addition to medical equipment, “up to two pieces of mobility equipment per disabled person or person with reduced mobility, including electric wheelchairs subject to advance warning of 48 hours and to possible limitations of space on board the aircraft, and subject to the application of relevant legislation concerning dangerous goods.” The Regulation further specifies that “where wheelchairs or other mobility equipment or assistive devices are lost or damaged during handling at the airport or during transport on board aircraft, the passenger to whom the equipment belongs should be compensated, in accordance with rules of international, Community and national law.” As part of its inspection process, the IAA ensures Irish airports comply with the above element of Regulation 1107 and that they have a policy in place should mobility equipment become lost or damaged.