Vol. 572 No. 3
427 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Transport the amount paid by his Department to the Irish Aviation Authority from January to September 2003 in reimbursement for the exemption of foreign military aircraft from overflight charges under the Eurocontrol Multilateral Agreement; the way in which this figure compares with the comparable period in 2002; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23392/03]
Under a Eurocontrol, European Organisation for the safety of Air navigation, multilateral agreement to which Ireland is a party, various categories of flights: flights under visual flight rules, flights performed by small aircraft, flights performed for the transport of heads of State and search and rescue flights, are exempt from paying en-route charges.
In the case of other categories – military flights, training flights, flights performed to test air navigation equipment and circular flights – states have the option to exempt such flights from payment of the en-route charge. In common with most Eurocontrol member states, Ireland exempts all such flights, including military, from payment of the en-route charge.
The authority has not yet invoiced my Department for September 2003. However, the amount paid to the Irish Aviation Authority in respect of exempt services for the period January to August 2003, inclusive, not including VAT, was €976,790.17. The equivalent amount for the same period in 2002 was €1,027,499.35. The 2003 figure incorporates an increase of approximately 33% in the IAA unit rate.
While it is not possible to provide an exact breakdown of these totals between military and other exempt flights, it is estimated that the latter comprises a very small proportion of the total payment.
