asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will state whether reports published to the effect that Aer Linte Teo. has entered into an agreement with Seaboard and Western Airlines for the charter of planes and crews is correct and, in particular, whether the statement attributed to the President of Seaboard and Western Airlines that this agreement would bring in approximately $11,000,000 revenue to his company within the next four years is correct.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Charter of Planes.
An agreement has been entered into between Aerlinte Éireann, Teoranta, and Seaboard and Western Airlines, and it will not come into operation until it has been approved by the Irish and American Governments. A token Supplementary Estimate will be introduced in the Dáil in the early future, on which I will make a statement.
Will the Minister indicate to the Dáil what the profits on the service are supposed to be and the advantages that could have been gained by an Irish company were it not that the inter-Party Government did away with the proposal to purchase planes for this service, so that the service has now to be given to foreigners?
The Deputy had better await the statement.
Will the Dáil have an opportunity of formally approving of this arrangement before it is finally completed?
I shall submit a token Estimate so that the Dáil will have an opportunity of hearing what the proposals are.
When will the Estimate be introduced?
It will be introduced to-morrow.
Is it proposed to take the Estimate this side of Christmas?
Yes.
Why?
Because it is desirable that the Dáil should give formal approval to the statement I propose to make before the matter is taken further.
Are we to understand that we shall not be given adequate time to consider the proposals and examine them outside the House before a decision is taken in this House? Are we to understand that the terms of the proposal will be put before us in this House and that we shall afterwards be asked to decide on them straightway?
The agreement to which the question relates is an agreement between two companies.
When an agree-is made, even between two Governments, it is usual to publish it as a paper so as to give members of the Oireachtas an opportunity of understanding it.
There is no question of an agreement between two Governments here.
You stopped it without giving an opportunity to anyone.
Will the members of the Oireachtas be given a copy of the agreement made between these two companies so that it can be examined, and so that they will have an opportunity of coming to a judgment on it?
I do not think that a copy of the agreement will be published.
Are we then going to be presented with an Estimate and asked to vote public money in order to support an agreement a copy of which we will not be allowed to see?
The Estimate, I have said, will be a token Estimate.
Surely, the House will be given an opportunity of seeing the agreement of which, presumably, they will be asked to finance the implementation by means of a Supplementary Estimate.
If the Dáil is asked to finance anything it will get all information.
Arising out of the Minister's immediate reply to the question asked, is there provision made in this agreement so that an opportunity will be given to Irish pilots——
That is a separate question altogether.
I think the Minister might answer two questions at this stage. The first is, whether he is prepared to give us an estimate of the profits referred to by Deputy McGrath which are going to be gained under the agreement, and secondly, will he not give us some information as to the reciprocal obligations and advantages that are going to be enjoyed by the parties to it?
Certainly.
Does the Minister propose to ask the House to pass a Supplementary Estimate in respect of this air line service without the House having an opportunity of knowing what the terms of the agreement between the two companies are, and on what conditions the Government proposes to approve, so far as we are concerned, the terms of the agreement?
The House will have full information of the terms of the agreement in so far as they affect matters of policy and of the considerations which will decide the Government's approval of them. Details of operating schedules will not be given.