asked the Minister for Tourism and Transport the representations, if any, he has made to the United Kingdom authorities regarding (a) the change of rules by them concerning flights into or out of the United Kingdom from Ireland (b) the fact that the system of liberalisation of new routes has been abandoned by the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Air Routes.
28.
Numerous official, diplomatic and political representations have been made to the British authorities since last June protesting at their failure to authorise the inauguration of new services on routes between Ireland and the UK. It has been repeatedly pointed out that their attitude contradicts the liberal posture of the UK in bilateral and multilateral air transport negotiations and that it is inconsistent with the practice of the Irish and British authorities over many years in respect of the authorisation of new services. These representations have not brought any positive results to date.
As I informed this House on 23 June 1987, the British authorities, who had previously indicated their willingness to accept freely the opening of new routes, are now prepared to do so only in the context of an overall package with particular emphasis on the number of carriers that should be allowed on any route and particularly on the London-Dublin route. I have made it clear at the EC Council of Ministers that any expanded opportunities that are granted to external carriers to serve the Irish market must be balanced by meaningful fifth freedom rights for Irish carriers who are handicapped by our peripheral location and a small home market. This is the line which has been adopted also in the course of bilateral negotiations with the British authorities who have not, however, been prepared to date to concede any fifth freedom rights to Irish airlines except as part of a multilateral agreement.
In the latter context, I should point out that the EC air transport package which was finalised by the Council of Ministers last June, provided, inter alia, for liberal market access for airlines of member states, including the possibility of inaugurating services on new routes, a multiple designation facility and fifth freedom rights. The EC package was not adopted because of difficulties which arose concerning Gibraltar Airport. If it had been adopted, it would effectively have solved the bilateral problems between Ireland and the UK. While I am hopeful that the EC package will be formally adopted at the next EC Transport Council on 7 December next, I cannot at this stage be certain about the outcome.
In the meantime, we are continuing on a bilateral basis to seek a solution to our problems with the British authorities.
I thank the Minister for his very lengthy reply. I am glad to hear him concur with what I have said in the question, that the United Kingdom authorities are not being fair or playing ball in this matter. It is an incredible turnaround for the British Prime Minister, Mrs. Thatcher, in terms of her attitude towards liberalisation, privatisation and everything in the UK that suddenly when an Irish airline, in the guise of Ryanair, comes along and proves that the routes that we have decided upon can be opened up and can increase tourism and traffic flow in both directions that suddenly the rule book has been thrown out. This cannot be accepted by the Minister.
I want to assist the Deputy but we must proceed by way of supplementary question.
Does the Minister propose to meet in the immediate term with the British authorities again in regard to this matter? With regard to the meeting on 7 December at the Council of Ministers, has the Minister mustered any support from any of the other countries to come to our assistance, particularly in regard to the bilateral situation with the UK? In terms of the broader freedom rights situation, has the Minister again got the support of other countries? Do they recognise that we are an island off Europe, that these transport deregulations are of extreme importance to us, that we are not a major threat in real terms to these countries and they should facilitate us in the true spirit of the EC?
First, I am in full agreement with what the Deputy has said about the treatment of Ryanair with regard to the Shannon-Luton and Cork-Luton services which they had already prepared and advertised because we were so sure permission would be forthcoming. The second part of the Deputy's question was with regard to the kind of support we can get. I am happy to be able to tell the House that I was more than pleased with the support that Ireland, specifically, got from various Ministers on 22 and 23 June and on 30 June, the deadline, when we were working on this air package which, as I said, would solve all these difficulties. If the package had got through, Ryanair would have had no trouble whatsoever on the Shannon-Luton and Cork-Luton routes. Not merely that, but so supportive were Mr. Warnke of the FDR, M. Douffiagues of France, Mrs. Kroes-Smit of the Netherlands and others that Ireland and Portugal got special concessions on hub-to-hub traffic out of that meeting. Unfortunately, we collided with the Treaty of Utrecht of 1714 before midnight on 30 June.
The position at the moment is that we started working on Mr. Channon, the British Minister, since then on a bilateral basis. He and Senor Caballero, the Spanish Minister, either at ministerial level or at official level, have been trying to resolve the problem in regard to the airport at Gibraltar which the Spaniards claim is outside the territory conceded by the Treaty of Utrecht. There is a sovereignty battle going on there. I regret to tell the House that I saw last night on a BBC news programme a demonstration by Gibraltarians against making any kind of arrangements with the Spaniards with regard to that airport, which gave me a little heart flutter in that I was developing optimism with regard to the meeting on 7 December. There is a meeting at top level organised for 30 November which would be roughly one week before the council meet. We were hopeful that at that meeting the Spaniards and the British would resolve the difficulties in such a way that they could present something that would let our package through on 7 December.
I call Deputy Cullen. The Deputy has already made a rather elaborate contribution on this question. I want to facilitate Deputy Deasy also in dealing with his remaining question. I would ask the Deputy to co-operate with me in that regard.
Would the Minister agree that in the overall context of the agreement which failed to emerge at the last meeting it is apparent that the British authorities are at the centre of this crux and that they are using the situation in Gibraltar to prevent this agreement from coming into being? This is to protect their own airlines into and out of the United Kingdom. Has this been highlighted and does the Minister think there is an element of vested interest by the British authorities in this matter?
All I can say about that is that there are those who have such a suspicion. I know that the British Minister on 30 June rowed in behind the package, even though he had been holding out for more advantage in the UK-Ireland situation. In the end he agreed, claiming that his Irish ancestry helped him to make up his mind to favour us. I am leaving it to the wisdom of the House to assess that.