THE Irish Aviation Authority has grounded cargo planes which do not meet air safety specifications and would quickly ground any charter passenger craft for the same reason, the committee was told yesterday.
Mr John Loughrey, secretary of the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications, said there was concern about the safety of such craft arising out of the recent crash of a charter flight carrying German tourists.
He said some countries were acting in a similar way with ships, where flags of convenience were used to register vessels in countries other than those of their origin. "I want to assure the public we have the highest standards of inspection here and we have already grounded cargo aircraft," he said.
Mr Loughrey told Mr Eric Byrne that the impounding of a Yugoslav aircraft at Dublin under UN sanctions because of the war in that country was the subject of litigation in the courts, and the case was likely to end up in the European Court of Justice.
The aircraft could now be taken out of the country because of the Dayton Accord if a certificate of airworthiness was obtained from the Department. Maintenance of it had cost £46,000 over the past 2 1/2 years. He would not dispute Mr Byrne's valuation of the aircraft at £27 million. His primary concern was the protection of the rights of the Irish taxpayer in the entire issue.