MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT Noel Dempsey has rejected claims that Irish and European authorities overreacted to the volcanic ash crisis and enforced an “over-rigid” flight ban.
Mr Dempsey insisted in the Dáil “the precautionary principle was applied and I think that was the correct approach”.
As airlines, airports, passengers and business counted the cost of the restriction of flights over European airspace, the Minister said: “Some people think we overreacted and of course that’s the easy thing for people to say now. If a plane crashed in Irish airspace I’m sure I’d be in here in this House trying to explain myself as to why I didn’t tell the aviation authority to close down Irish airspace.”
He was responding during a special notice debate on the crisis to Labour transport spokesman Tommy Broughan who cited a number of Dutch MPs, critical of the ban. Mr Broughan said there was “experience in the Far East and across the Pacific of aircraft and aviation having to cope with volcanic ash”.
Mr Dempsey said however: “It’s very easy for people who have no responsibility to start saying this was an overreaction. I refute that and reject that. The scientific data was there. And the precautionary principle was applied and I think that that was the correct approach.”
He told the House he believed that based on overall EU figures, about 30,000 Irish people were stranded abroad, but “a significant proportion may have made it home”. The Department of Foreign Affairs on Monday dealt with 1,100 inquiries, mainly dealing with alternative travel.
The Minister believed it would be some time before the full cost of the crisis could be measured, but Aer Lingus was estimated to be losing €5 million daily and Ryanair €7 – €10 million.
“The damage from an export point of view, if there is any, won’t be known for some time.” He said a number of exporters had experienced severe difficulty, but a significant number had found alternative channels for their products.
Fine Gael’s Fergus O’Dowd expressed concern that over 200 passengers stranded in Madrid were unable to receive information from the Irish Embassy there.
“Should it not be the case that every major embassy abroad would immediately have a 24/7 or 7am to midnight [phone response] to deal with queries from people who are very worried.”
The Louth TD also expressed concern about profiteering. He highlighted the case of eight people stranded in Tenerife who were being charged €1,200 to get a flight to Barcelona.
Mr Dempsey said there were incidents that needed to be looked at. “I don’t know if there’s anything we can do about profiteering in different countries,” but he praised the efforts of FÁilte Ireland and accommodation providers in the State, who offered special rates and helped visitors to “feel a little bit more at home”. He said “the Irish tourist industry and accommodation providers can take a bow”.
Mr Broughan criticised the lack of response by Irish airlines to customers seeking information, that the airlines “don’t want to know”.
The Minister said however that he had “only got complaints about one airline and it wouldn’t be the one we’d normally expect into a lack of information”.
