Senator John McGahon- speech from 15 Feb 2021

Thank you very much. Leader, today I'm going to raise an issue which you have a lot of experience about yourself and something that you've been very vocal both inside this house and outside this house and it's in relation to the Irish aviation industry and I would really appreciate at some stage in the future if we could table a debate to have the Minister for Transport to come into this house and to outline what his plans are, really good detailed plans for the Irish aviation industry and I'm raising this because I've had so many, you know, two or three friends of mine are pilots, I've had so many people in my own home county of Louth get in touch with me who are members of the Irish pilots association. It is the last sector of Irish society that will be able to recover after COVID because we're going to have varying different degrees of COVID recovery for want of a better word in different countries and naturally enough it will be the last sector to really get back up on its feet and because of that and because of the unique sector that it is I would really appreciate if the government could consider extending the PUP payment and the EW EWSS payments much later on to this year for those involved in the aviation sector and those involved in the wider airline sector and I think that's the last sector of Irish society that particular group of people will probably be the last people to be able to avail of the PUP and the EWSS and again I say that because of the unique situation that they're in and you know this leader better than anyone else for the work that you've done on this matter. So I'd really appreciate it if we could have the Minister for Transport in to give us a clear outline plan about what his view is to ensure that those involved in the aviation sector will have the proper financial support to fall back on over the next 10 to 12 months as we begin to finally get out of this nightmare that we all find ourselves in. We'll see you next time.