Could the Minister explain the meaning of "aircraft"? Does it include helicopters, et cetera?
Committee on Finance. - Air Navigation and Transport Bill, 1973: Committee and Final Stages.
SECTION 1.
Question proposed: "That section 1 stand part of the Bill."
Yes, it does.
So that any hijacking of helicopters is covered in this Bill?
What about hovercrafts?
I am not sure about hovercrafts and I will have to have a look at that point. It is a moot point.
Question put and agreed to.
Sections 2 to 4, inclusive, agreed to.
SECTION 5.
Question proposed: "That section 5 stand part of the Bill."
While this section gives the power to a commander of an aircraft to disembark persons from aircraft I should like to know if there are any protections for the commander? In the event of incident is his liability protected by this section?
Section 10 protects the commander.
Question put and agreed to.
Sections 6 to 9, inclusive, agreed to.
SECTION 10.
Question proposed: "That section 10 stand part of the Bill."
While I realise that this particular Bill is merely a ratification of an international convention this section appears to put a lot of emphasis on the duty of commanders. It puts a duty on a commander to hand over a passenger, a duty on a commander to furnish information, and a duty on a commander to notify the appropriate authority. A lot of the emphasis seems to be on the work of the commander of an aircraft. The commander of an aircraft has enough work to do irrespective of all these duties.
This arises in the event of hijacking. The commander must have the authority under the convention to do this. The authority must be given to somebody and when this authority has been given that person has the duty to carry it out.
Does the Minister not feel that this convention has gone too far in imposing extra strain on the already overworked airline commanders?
No, the airline pilots themselves have been critical of the Government for not enacting this legislation to give them the authority.
I am anxious to facilitate the pilots as far as possible. They should get extra protection as well as all the duties that are being put on them.
It is his duty to see that it is done and to do it. The situation could arise where the only crew member aboard would be the pilot. The pilot is bound to be aboard if the plane is flying and, therefore, there is always somebody aboard to accept this responsibility. It is the duty of that person to see that it is carried out. He can give instructions to members of the crew to do it but as the pilot is the one person certain to be on board he is the obvious one to give this authority to.
It is given to whoever is in command of the aircraft at the particular time. In other words, if the commander was knocked out then the co-pilot would take on the responsibilities?
Yes. It also states that another member of the crew can be named to be given this authority. There was a hijacking recently where there was only one member of the crew on board and he was the pilot.
Question put and agreed to.
Sections 11 to 19, inclusive, agreed to.
First Schedule agreed to.
Second Schedule agreed to.
Title agreed to.
Bill reported without amendment and received for final consideration.
Question proposed: "That the Bill do now pass."
I hope this Bill will be effective at this time in history because it is very necessary from a national and international point of view to eliminate this dreadful hardship and threat now posed to passengers, innocent people, travelling on aircraft. We trust that the Bill has the necessary teeth to be effective and give effect to these two international conventions held in Tokyo and The Hague.
I should like to endorse what Deputy Barrett, spokesman on Transport and Power matters on behalf of our party, has said on this Bill. Any protection which can be afforded to air passengers and air crews is desirable and I am delighted that this Bill is before the House for the ratification of these conventions. I have only one regret about it, from the point of view of our air crews on Irish airlines, and that is that the conventions so far agreed to and signed have not gone far enough in tackling this problem. I think the Minister will agree on this. The First Schedule speaks about The Hague contracting states, meaning states in which The Hague Convention is for the time being enforced. Sufficient member countries have not signed this convention. The countries that are principally suffering from hijacking have not, to the best of my knowledge, signed this convention. Consequently, Irish pilots, air crews and passengers travelling over the territory of countries that have not signed the convention are in serious danger due to the lack of protection because the countries have not signed the conventions. I hope that the Minister will put pressure on IATA and other organisations to have the scope of these conventions extended to give as much protection as possible to our air crews and passengers.
I take the point made by Deputy Burke. This is true but these conventions tend to be out of date almost before they are incorporated in legislation. We are giving effect to two conventions here today. The Hague and Tokyo Conventions, which were later seen to be faulty. Following on them will be the Montreal Convention. I shall be bringing in legislation as soon as possible to give effect to it.
The points made by Deputy Burke are valid. He may remember that in August, at the conference in Rome, these matters were debated without any firm commitments emerging as to what could be done about aircraft hijacked or landed in countries that had not signed the convention. This will be followed up again, quite vigorously, I think, under pressure from the Air Pilots' Association and bodies of that kind and governments, of course, which want to see this crime completely eliminated from the world. We shall probably find that at the next conference there will be a further move towards finding some way of giving effect to conventions in countries that have not signed them. I should like to thank the Opposition for the speed with which we were able to get this measure through the House. I think everybody in the House recognises how necessary this measure is. Perhaps it does not go far enough but it is as far as we can go under these conventions. I shall be introducing further legislation to give greater protection to aircraft.
Question put and agreed to.