An independent authority to enforce safety standards in Irish aviation was demanded by Mr Sean Ryan (Labour, Dublin North).
He said the recent EU directive proposed to open up access to European airports to provide competition on all ground-handling operations at airports.
While he had no difficulty in principle with that, he was deeply concerned that all the existing and potential operators would not operate under the same rules and regulations.
He was concerned that there would be no social or environmental element to the directive when it was incorporated into legislation covering airport regulators.
"The suggestion that the regulator will operate solely and exclusively on an economic basis, and will have no regard to safety standards or environmental or social issues, is totally unacceptable to me and to the staff at Dublin Airport.
"Given that ground-handling contracts will be granted on the basis of economic criteria only, it is appalling that there will be no independent monitoring of safety standards for operations interacting directly with aircraft."
Mr Ryan said he understood that officials of the Minister for Public Enterprise acknowledged a gap in the system, but they were unwilling to empower an independent authority to maintain and enforce safety standards in all aspects of air transport, particularly with self-handing and third-party ground handling.
Damage to aircraft on the ground was estimated to cost airlines about $20 billion a year, he said. Unreported damage to an aircraft caused by ground damage could lead to a major flight disaster.
"The possibility of this happening in Ireland would be increased if ongoing safety standards and training are not part of the ground-handling tendering equation.
"In the interest of the Irish aviation industry, its employees and passengers, I demand that the acknowledged gap in the proposed legislation be plugged."
The Minister of State for Public Enterprise, Mr Joe Jacob, said the Department's objective was to ensure the standards, safety and security of aviation continued to inspire confidence in the use of Irish airspace and technical infrastructure.
The policy was based on standards set internationally, mainly through the international civic and civil aviation organisation convention, to which Ireland was a signatory.
The Irish Aviation Authority had responsibility for regulating the technical and safety aspects of civil aviation and for the provision of air traffic standards.
"The authority monitors the activities of airlines in this regard."