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Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
US may limit Aer Lingus flights because of Dublin Airport passenger cap, industry group warns
The Government may have just months to axe the 32-million-a-year cap on passengers at Dublin Airport before the US limits Aer Lingus flights to its airports, a North American industry group warns. Airlines for America (A4A), whose members include US and Canadian carriers that fly from the US to the Republic, maintains that the passenger limit on Dublin Airport breaches European Union-North American open-skies air-travel treaties. According to Keith Glatz, A4A's senior vice-president of international affairs, the US could respond to the cap by limiting Irish airlines' access to the US. Aer Lingus is the only Irish carrier offering regular scheduled transatlantic flights. Mr Glatz explained that he was not speaking for the US government, but noted that 'typically' Washington's department of transportation can respond to an illegal breach of the treaty by limiting the number of cities to which a country's airlines can fly. READ MORE He cautioned that the time left for the Irish Government to end the cap and avoid such a sanction was narrowing. 'We're talking about a couple of months to get this done, and not a year,' Mr Glatz said. The pressure from the US administration on the Government to act is likely to increase as time progresses, he predicted. [ Dublin Airport passenger cap to be breached this year, says DAA Opens in new window ] Mr Glatz stressed that A4A believed that Darragh O'Brien, Minister for Transport and the Government, wanted to keep a pledge to lift the cap and ensure the Republic complied with air-travel treaties. He also maintained that his organisation had good relationships with both Mr O'Brien and the Department of Transport. 'We're working closely with them, they're working with the US government, they're moving, but slower than we would like them to move,' he said. How the wealthy are buying up land to avoid inheritance tax Listen | 22:03 'They understand that they have to do this, and that now is the time to get this done, before a small issue becomes a larger, international dispute.' A4A believes that legislation to lift the cap is drafted, meaning that it is simply a matter of time before the Oireachtas passes it and the cap is lifted. Planners imposed the limit in 2007 as a condition of allowing airport operator, DAA, to build a second terminal at Dublin, to address fears of traffic congestion. Shortly after taking office in January, Mr O'Brien confirmed that he had sought the advice of Rossa Fanning, Attorney General, on resolving the row through legislation. The Minister subsequently predicted this would be ready by the autumn. A department spokesman said on Monday that the Minister was examining a range of issues relating to the passenger cap and was continuing to 'engage with key stakeholders'. The High Court suspended the cap's implementation when it referred questions raised in a legal challenge by airlines to the European courts. A4A is a party to that challenge, initiated by Aer Lingus and Ryanair, but Mr Glatz said that the referred issues related to European and Irish competition law, not to European Union-North American air-travel treaties. He argued that those treaties made possible the Republic's relationship with the US, worth trillions of dollars, and predicted that lifting the cap would spark further growth. Aer Lingus did not comment on any likely sanctions but the airline has consistently warned of the economic damage that it threatens.
Irish Times
3 hours ago
- Irish Times
Ireland should hold another referendum on women in the home, UN committee says
The Government should assess the reasons the referendum on deleting Article 41.2 on the importance of women's role in the home failed and find alternative wording in order to run another vote on it, according to a United Nations' panel that deals with the issue of discrimination. In a report published on Monday, the UN's Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) expressed disappointment with the failure of the referendum to pass and suggested the Government should not give up on the issue. 'The committee recommends that the State party conduct an independent evaluation of the referendum, carry out information campaigns on the negative reinforcement by article 41.2 of gender stereotypes about women's roles in the home and undertake inclusive public consultations to find alternative wording with a view to holding another constitutional referendum on amending article 41.2 of the Constitution to remove the stereotypical language on the role of women in the home,' it said. The article says 'the State recognises that by her life within the home, woman gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved. READ MORE 'The State shall, therefore, endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home.' The amendment proposed to replace the clause with a more gender neutral one on care but it was heavily defeated, with more than 70 per cent of those voting opposing the move. The recommendation is one of a long list from the committee in its latest assessment of Ireland's progress on the issue of discrimination against women. It bases these on submissions and hearings with Minister of State Colm Brophy, having led a delegation that included officials from several Government departments which appeared before the committee last month. The committee welcomes the progress made in a range of areas and a number of the pieces of legislation passed by the Oireachtas in recent years. These include legalisation intended to address issues around human trafficking, domestic violence, online harassment and gender pay gaps. However, the committee suggests there are more areas in which significant work needs to be done. It says what it describes as 'arbitrary barriers' to redress for survivors of historic abuse in Mother and Baby Institutions should be removed. It also says access to legal services for women facing domestic violence or employment cases should be improved and backs reform of the primary education curriculum 'to systematically incorporate gender equality and eliminate gender stereotypes' [ Greater Traveller representation needed in Irish politics, says UN committee Opens in new window ] It said particular supports needed to be provided to marginalised women including those with disabilities and from Roma, Traveller, migrant or rural communities. It says more needs to be done to address the gender pay gap in employment and to take more single adult families headed by women, out of poverty. Reacting to the paper on Monday, the Department of Children, Disability and Equality welcomed the recognition expressed of progress on a range of issues since the last such report in 2017. It also recognised the suggestion more needed to be done. Director of the National Women's Council Orla O'Connor said: 'These recommendations are a clear call to action for the Irish Government. They highlight the urgent need for systemic change to tackle the deep rooted and intersecting inequalities faced by women and girls- particularly in relation to childcare, women's health, political representation, and responses to gender-based violence.'
Irish Times
3 hours ago
- Irish Times
Government fears referendum to give Irish diaspora vote in presidential elections ‘could be lost'
There is a significant concern that the Government could lose a referendum to extend the vote in presidential elections to Irish citizens living abroad, the Minister of State for Diaspora has said. Neale Richmond said he was personally in favour of giving the right to vote in presidential elections to the Irish diaspora 'anywhere ... if they are entitled to Irish citizenship'. He said it should not just be limited to Irish citizens living in Northern Ireland . [ Should people in Northern Ireland vote in Irish presidential elections? Opens in new window ] 'It is my personal opinion, my party's policy and it is the Government's policy that we will introduce voting for the Irish abroad for presidential elections,' said the Fine Gael TD during a visit to London. READ MORE Mr Richmond noted the Government recently accepted an opposition Dáil motion on the issue. 'But it's a tricky debate,' he said. However, he complained of 'deliberate disinformation from the commentariat', which he suggested had misled some to believe that extending presidential votes could also bring into play voting for the Oireachtas or local councils. He said there is a 'major concern' a poll on giving the diaspora votes for the presidency could be defeated 'if we hold this referendum without a proper debate, without a proper consultation and without letting people know what this means'. In response to the suggestion that there was relative political unanimity on the issue, he said: 'We had relative unanimity on the last two referendums [held last year on expanding the definition of the family and on references to a woman's place in the home] and we lost those spectacularly badly.' The Dublin Rathdown TD said he was not trying to be a 'killjoy' on the issue. 'But as a politician, I don't want to run a referendum and lose it because then you can't have another referendum on this issue for a generation.' Why does Ireland's presidential race still have no one at the starting line? Listen | 42:06 The Minister was speaking at the Irish Embassy in London at the launch of the Global Irish Survey, a Government survey of the diaspora that is available at and will run until the end of August. He said the Government wanted to canvass the views of Irish people living abroad before formulating a new strategy for the diaspora; the existing five-year strategy runs out at the end of the year. Mr Richmond said he hoped a new strategy would be in place by next April. In addition to maintaining connections with people who had recently left the Republic, he said it would also seek to 'go deeper' with second, third and fourth generation descendants. In addition to launching the survey, he was also due to hold talks with Jenny Chapman, the British Labour government's development minister.
