Vol. 559 No. 1
361 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for Transport further to Parliamentary Question No. 84 of 26 November 2002, the countries from which Ireland sought money for the use of Irish airspace; the countries and the amounts owed; the steps taken to secure payment; if he will supply copies of the correspondence on the matter; the reason the Attorney General decided to write off the debts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25433/02]
With effect from 1 June 1989 the then Department of Tourism, Transport and Communications extended the levying of the Shanwick communications charge to military traffic transiting the Atlantic. This charge is levied on transatlantic flights availing of the en-route communications service provided by Ballygireen Radio Station in County Clare. The military authorities refused to pay the charge on the grounds that military aircraft were State aircraft and thus exempt under international aviation law. The charges proved to be uncollectable.
On the basis of legal advice from the then Attorney General, Department of Finance sanction was sought for the write-off of all amounts then due and the cessation of military charges with effect from 1 May 1991. It was a condition of the Department of Finance sanction that a final effort be made to approach defaulting states for payment of the outstanding charges and where this proved fruitless to write-off debts as irrecoverable. Aer Rianta, who then acted as collection agents for the Department, accordingly made a final effort to recover the moneys but without success. Details of the write-off were published in the Comptroller and Auditor General's Report on the Appropriation Accounts for 1991.
The total amount written off was Ir£1,122,824 broken down as follows:
|
Country |
Amount |
|
(Ir£) |
|
|
United States |
1,012,284 |
|
Canada |
59,688 |
|
Germany |
40,752 |
|
Netherlands |
5,472 |
|
Belgium |
3,600 |
|
Others |
1,028 |
