Vol. 521 No. 5
36 Ms Fitzgerald asked the Minister for Defence if the report of the Air Corps on the safety of aviation operations in the area surrounding Baldonnell is finalised; if he will publish the report; if he has discussed the report with the FAI; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17578/00]
Officials of my Department met the FAI on 7 June 2000 and presented it with the report prepared by the Air Corps relating to the adverse impact of the proposed Eircom Park on Casement Aerodrome. The FAI's comments and observations on this report are just to hand and will be considered by my Department in the coming days.
At the same meeting the FAI presented the Department with its response to the South Dublin County Council's request for additional infor mation. That report is currently being examined by my Department.
It is proposed to make all the reports available when the deliberations on the matter have been concluded.
Did the Minister discuss the FAI's planning application with the Taoiseach? Have his officials discussed it with the executive chairman of the National Stadium?
The only discussion I had with the Taoiseach on this matter related to his asking me when the Snow report would be published and I indicated it would be published within the next few weeks. There have been discussions around the House on various matters, but that is the only discussion I had with the Taoiseach on this matter.
I take it from that, the Minister has not had any discussion with the Taoiseach on the FAI's planning application?
My officials have had discussions with the FAI on that and they have got documents from it, but I have had not discussions with it.
The Minister's officials have not had discussions with the chairman of the National Stadium on the FAI's planning application?
No.
It is important that is on the record. Having regard to the detailed replies the Minister got from the FAI and the report of the Air Corps, will the Air Corps have to change its obstacle clearance altitude because of Eircom Park? Does the Minister accept that the report of the Air Corps states that the risk calculations carried out recommend that its obstacle clearance altitude will not be affected by such a development? Does he accept that if Eircom Park was lit and marked for aviation purposes, that would satisfy the Air Corps, that the central issues are dealt with in its reply to the Minister and it has been able to answer the various concerns raised by the Minister? Will he accept that a series of points that have been put to the Air Corps are spurious, as there is a political imperative on the part of the Minister and his officials to ensure this stadium does not go ahead?
Absolutely not. I have no wish to prevent the FAI from doing what it wishes. I have only one concern, the safety of the training operations of the Air Corps in Baldonnell. When Air Corps personnel told me this development would constitute a significant infringement on their ability to guarantee the safety of their training operations – we must bear in mind that such training involves young pilots who are not so experienced in aviation – I assure the Deputy that until such time as I am assured by the people responsible for advising me on this area that such a development would not constitute an infringement on the safety of such training operations, I will not lift my hand from this matter.
I dispute, in as ferocious a way as I can, the notion that there is some underhand dealing, some question of my wanting to block this stadium from going ahead. Those who are interested in promoting this project would do well to stick to the truth in their contacts with the media and representatives in this House, as I do not stand in their way, but I stand four square behind my personnel who tell me that, according to international aviation safety standards, such a development would constitute a significant infringement to the safety of training operations in Baldonnel. It is about that matter alone that I have a concern.
No twisting of that matter by anybody, and particularly by those in the FAI in their presentation to the media, will have the slightest effect on my decision which will be based on safety alone. It will be clear from my record in other Departments that I have put safety first regardless of the political consequences for myself and I will do so again here.
Everyone agrees, including the FAI, that it is critical that safety issues are met. I put it to the Minister that he has delayed meeting the FAI and delayed making the reports public. Has he given a copy of the Frederick Snow report to the Department of the Taoiseach?
No, I have not. This is all the hearsay twisted stories which are emerging.
I am giving the Minister an opportunity to put on the record the truth of the position. There have been long delays in meeting the FAI and in making the reports public. It was extremely difficult for people to get information from the Department for whatever reason. The Minister has just said the Air Corps report says there were dangers. The most significant question is whether the Air Corps will have to change its obstacle clearance altitudes because of Eircom Park. The answer given in the report according to the risk calculations that were done by the Air Corps is that the obstacle clearance altitudes will not be affected by the development. Does the Minister accept that?
If the Minister's concern is for safety why is he trying to apply civil aviation rules? If he were to do this the Garda helicopter could not function in Dublin city in the evenings? If he tried to apply Article 3 of the Chicago convention, which states, "This convention does not apply to State aircraft", to Baldonnel the reality is that the Garda helicopter could not fly over Dublin and that there would have to be a range of other changes in the area? For example he would have close down Gormanston aerodrome, change a housing estate which is to the south of Eircom Park—
I ask the Deputy to give way to the Minister because we have exceeded the time.
Why is the Minister moving the goalposts in relation to the rules of air safety that apply at this time when the discussion is going on about Eircom Park? Yet he was able to agree to a request from the Tánaiste in relation to the change of height of a factory that she wants.
Please, Deputy, it is not appropriate to quote at Question Time or to make statements. I call the Minister for a brief answer.
The first meeting between my Department and the FAI took place on 13 April. Further meetings were held on 20 July, 16 March, 30 March. I also met them on 30 September. That was all in a 12 month period. For Deputy Fitzgerald to suggest they could not have had meetings or for the FAI to indicate to the Deputy that they could not have meetings, if that is the position, is far from the truthful position. The record will show it is far from the truthful position. To compare where the Garda helicopter might go in the city to a building already provided in an emergency service or in the follow-up of those who are doing wrong in the city to something that has not yet been built in the precincts of where my trainees in the Air Corps are training is a totally separate and distinct matter.
No, the point is that the Minister is applying the same rules.
