I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."
The purpose of the Bill is to enable effect to be given in Irish domestic law to the convention for the suppression of unlawful acts against the safety of civil aviation which was drawn up at Montreal on 23rd September, 1971. The convention came into force internationally on 26th January, 1973 after the tenth ratification was made and is now in operation between 59 states. Many of the states with which we have regular air services, for example the US, the UK, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands have already ratified. Two previous conventions, the Tokyo and Hague, dealt primarily with offences committed on board aircraft particularly hijacking and the development of a uniform international legal code to combat the hijacking problem. The Montreal Convention deals with sabotage and other offences against civil aviation.
The Tokyo Convention which was drawn up in 1965 was intended as a means of international co-operation to make offences aboard aircraft amenable to law. It conferred certain powers on aircraft commanders as regards treatment of offenders. The convention also dealt with hijacking offences and the obligation of states with regard to an offender. It did not, however, require that an offender be punished. Not surprisingly, it was felt that the convention did not deal adequately with hijacking offences and a further convention was drawn up at The Hague in 1970. This provided for the definition of hijacking as an international offence, the establishment of jurisdiction over it and its punishment by heavy penalties. Both these conventions were given legislative effect by the Air Navigation and Transport Act, 1973.
The Montreal Convention deals with a wider range of offences against civil aviation including armed attacks and other forms of sabotage against aircraft and aviation installations and facilities. It provides that a person commits an offence if he performs an act of violence which is likely to endanger the safety of an aircraft, damages or destroys an aircraft or places a device on board which would endanger the aircraft's safety. It is also an offence to destroy air navigation facilities or to communicate information known to be false, thereby endangering the safety of an aircraft in flight. A person also commits an offence if he conspires in any way with someone who commits any of the offences specified. As in the case of The Hague Convention, the Montreal Convention creates international jurisdiction for the offences and all offences are punishable by severe penalties.
This Bill makes offences against civil aviation which I have outlined, amenable to Irish law irrespective of where they are committed.
This gives full effect to the convention and is similar to the provision in respect of hijacking in the 1973 Act. As in the 1973 Act, the Bill goes beyond the terms of the convention in that it extends to offences committed against aircraft and installations used for domestic flights; the convention confined itself to offences of an international nature. The Bill, therefore, gives the greatest possible protection to all forms of civil aviation.
The 1973 Act dealt comprehensively with powers of a commander as regards restraint of a person who jeopardises the safety of an aircraft. While the Montreal Convention does not require such provisions, the Bill does give the commander additional powers to prevent a suspected person from boarding an aircraft or to remove him from it. It further required the commander to notify the appropriate authority that he had done so. The Bill, Deputies will notice, also contains similar provisions to the Act of 1973 as regards extradition arrangements.
As you will see, the offences covered by the Bill are quite comprehensive, and coupled with the earlier Act of 1973, provide a very marked deterrent to the potential hijacker and saboteur and bestows effective powers to deal with those guilty of such crimes. However, while this legislation goes a long way towards making civil aviation safer against security threats, it cannot be expected that it will remove such threats entirely.
Civil aviation has proved itself highly vulnerable to attack world-wide in recent years. Apart from the implementation of our international obligations, which this Bill will complete, we are taking all practical measures possible to secure the safety of air transport. It would be inappropriate for me to detail these measures but the House can rest assured that the security forces of the State, Aer Rianta, Aer Lingus and other interests concerned are fully alive to the dangers involved and are taking effective measures to deal with the situation. In order to co-ordinate our efforts and keep our security measures under constant review, I have set up a National Civil Aviation Security Committee representative of the Government Departments concerned, including the Garda and Defence Forces, Aer Rianta, Aer Lingus and the Irish Airline Pilots' Association. In addition local airport security committees are functioning at each of the three airports. The measures being taken cause considerable inconvenience to passengers but this is inevitable and passengers must, and do, accept that safety comes before convenience.
I commend this Bill to the House. The Bill is not a controversial one because, as I have stated, its main purpose is to give force in Irish law to the provisions of an international instrument designed to promote aviation security on a world-wide scale and in particular to protect the safety of passengers and air crews who are at such serious risk in all forms of attack on civil aviation.