My Department has recently received a draft of the Air Navigation and Transport (Cape Town Convention) Bill 2005, from the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel. It is my intention to secure Government approval for the text of the Bill and to introduce it in the Oireachtas very shortly.
The Cape Town Convention is intended to reduce the risks associated with financing aircraft and will make aircraft finance available at more attractive rates in the countries that have ratified the convention. I am very pleased that an Irish company, Aviareto, was successful in the competition to operate the international registry of financial interests that is a key element of the convention.