Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 25 June 2014
205. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the reason a solution similar to that reached in relation to the language colleges which shut down, allowing students to finish at much discounted fees, was not considered in respect of the Pilot Training College shut down. [27592/14]
View answerFollowing the collapse of the Pilot Training College in 2012, the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) made every effort to assist the students of the College to complete their training. I understand that, the IAA engaged with the relevant stakeholders in Florida and here in Ireland to enable the continuation of training for a number of students who were in a position to fund the completion of their training with other training providers. In addition, the IAA funded and helped facilitate the repatriation of those students who were training in Florida to Ireland on a once-off basis.
The responsibility of the IAA with regard to flight training organisations extends to the oversight of the safety, quality and standard of the training being delivered, and the conduct of examinations and flight tests to the appropriate EU standard. While the IAA engaged with other training providers with a view to facilitating those students who wished to continue their training with other training providers, the fees charged are a commercial matter for these companies which are private entities. The fees payable for pilot training are on a different scale to language training fees so the accommodations reached for some of the students affected by the recent closure of some language training schools are not comparable to the situation involving the collapse of the Pilot Training College.
The failure of the Pilot Training College in terms of its contractual obligations to its students is a matter of company law and appropriate to the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement.
