Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 December 2004
61 Ms O’Sullivan asked the Minister for Transport the position with regard to the Shannon stopover; the further position with regard to the timeframe for agreement between the EU and US on the open skies policy; the discussions he has had in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32353/04]
View answerAs I indicated in my reply to a similar question from the Deputy on 2 November 2004, at a number of recent Transport Councils, the Irish position has been that while we are in favour of an open skies agreement between the EU and the US, Ireland's support would be contingent on an acceptable arrangement on Shannon being agreed between Ireland and the US and that arrangement being reflected in the EU-US agreement.
Negotiations between the EU and the US on an open skies agreement will recommence in early 2005, when the new US Administration is in place. Both EU and US officials have maintained contact over the summer but no negotiations have taken place since last June. Detailed negotiations took place up to June 2004, with the objective of reaching an agreement in time for the EU-US summit in Ireland at the end of that month. However, when the proposed agreement, which would have brought in open skies between all EU member states and the US, was discussed at the Transport Council in June 2004, Transport Ministers felt that the deal on offer was unbalanced in favour of the US.
In the lead up to June 2004 and in line with Ireland's position as outlined at the beginning of this reply, in May 2004 Department of Transport officials travelled to Washington to discuss this issue with the US. An official from the European Commission also attended those discussions. While the Irish delegation was not authorised to conclude any agreement with the US, good exploratory discussions were held. Had an EU-US deal emerged from the Transport Council, a suitable phasing in over a period of years of open skies between Ireland and the US would have been agreed for inclusion in the EU-US deal that would have been signed at the summit at the end of June 2004.
Currently, there are no EU-US negotiations taking place. There is no doubt in my mind, however, that an EU-US open skies agreement is inevitable once a properly balanced agreement is reached. My officials have maintained contact with the US side to keep open all options for progress on this issue.
It is difficult to estimate the time frame in which an EU-US agreement might be reached. I have now familiarised myself with the positions of the various Irish stakeholders involved. I am conscious of the fact that the new board of Shannon Airport is now required to produce a business plan for the airport and that clarity on the open skies issue would be helpful to that business planning process. I am also conscious that Irish airlines are currently restricted in the routes they can serve under the existing bilateral arrangement and that expanding scheduled services across the Atlantic is of great importance to the growth of Irish airlines and Irish tourism.
For the reasons I have outlined above, officials from my Department will shortly travel to Washington to explore with the US authorities what adjustments to the current Ireland-US arrangements are possible.
