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Dáil Éireann - Volume 261 - 07 June, 1972

Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers - Airline Landing Rights.

32. Dr. O'Connell asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs whether his Department have assumed the responsibility from the Department of Transport and Power for negotiating with regard to the question of US carriers flying into Dublin and on the issue of Aer Lingus landing rights in New York.

Dr. Hillery: The matter referred to in the question is one which concerns both Departments and there has been no change in their respective roles.

Dr. O'Connell: Will both Departments be working in harmony on the question of deciding the landing rights?

Dr. Hillery: How could the Deputy doubt it?

Dr. O'Connell: May I ask then if both Departments have reached agreement on when these will take place?

Dr. Hillery: As far as the Government [977] are concerned I deal with other Governments and the Minister for Transport and Power deals with Aer Lingus and airlines operations. There is no conflict of operation at all.

An Ceann Comhairle: Question No. 33.

Dr. O'Connell: Is it not a question of dealing with a Government in this case and would it not be the Department of Foreign Affairs? Has it not reached the stage of dealing with Government Departments?

Dr. Hillery: I do not quite get what bothers the Deputy. We deal with other Governments through the Department of Foreign Affairs certainly and there has been no change in that.

Dr. O'Connell: May I then be more specific and ask the Minister when we will have a decision?

Dr. Hillery: On what? The Deputy is trying to give an answer by his question.

Dr. O'Connell: No, I am asking for an answer.

Dr. Hillery: Well, he is not getting it.

Dr. O'Connell: My job is to ask the question.

Dr. Hillery: In the form in which the Deputy asks the question it is difficult to answer without giving the impression that I know already of a decision being made or a decision to be made at a certain time. There are discussions proceeding and there is absolutely no way in which I could say when these discussions will end or how they will end.

Dr. O'Connell: The Minister will agree it is becoming dangerously close to D-Day in regard to Aer Lingus rights?

Dr. Hillery: Yes, Aer Lingus will be excluded from New York on 18th August.

Dr. O'Connell: And these discussions have gone on for months and months. Is the uncertainty of it not [978] having an adverse effect on trading and revenue for Aer Lingus?

Dr. Hillery: We have to balance all the pluses and minuses in it.

Dr. O'Connell: It looks as if we will be reaching agreement at the eleventh hour.

Dr. Hillery: We may not reach agreement at the eleventh hour. What the Deputy is saying is that if a great pressure is on you you must give in. Is that what he is saying?

Dr. O'Connell: I would like to see the Government assert themselves and get some positive decision and it is obviously not coming.

Dr. Hillery: This is between two Governments. We do not make decisions for the American Government. When you are dealing with another Government you cannot do what the Deputy has just said.

Mr. O'Donnell: In order to clear up some confusion which has arisen regarding the precise functions of the Department of Transport and Power and the Department of Foreign Affairs in relation to this issue, could the Minister say who signs the bilateral agreement on behalf of the Government? Is it not the Minister for Foreign Affairs?

Dr. Hillery: There is no agreement, as the Deputy knows. The last agreement was 25 years ago.

Mr. O'Donnell: Did the Minister for Foreign Affairs not sign it on previous occasions?

Dr. Hillery: I except the signing would be between two Governments, the representatives of the two Governments, whether it is ambassadors——

Mr. O'Donnell: By the Minister for Foreign Affairs?

Dr. Hillery: ——or an ambassador. I am not sure. It would be a representative of the Government through Foreign Affairs.

33. Mr. O'Donnell asked the Minister for Transport and Power the European airlines which have landing rights [979] at Dublin Airport; and those which operate scheduled services to both Dublin and Shannon.

Minister for Transport and Power (Mr. B. Lenihan): The following European airlines have been designated by their respective countries to operate scheduled air services to Dublin and do, in fact, operate such services:

British European Airways; British Midland Airways; British Island Airways; Cambrian Airways—British; North East Airlines—British; Alitalia —Italian; Iberia—Spanish; Lufthansa —German; S.A.S.—Scandinavian.

The following European countries are entitled under bilateral agreements to designate national carriers for scheduled services to Dublin but do not at present exercise this right:

Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Netherlands, Portugal and Switzerland.

Apart from Aer Lingus, only one European airline—British European Airways—operates scheduled services to both Dublin and Shannon.

Mr. O'Donnell: Could the Minister say—if he has not got the information perhaps he might be good enough to let me know later—whether any of the European airlines which have landing rights at Shannon and Dublin operate services between Europe and America, using these rights at Shannon and Dublin?

Mr. B. Lenihan: Denmark is one country that has this right.

Mr. O'Donnell: To North America?

Mr. B. Lenihan: Yes.

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