Europe threatens legal action over aviation whistleblower body

The European Commission has threatened the Irish government with legal action over the State’s failure to designate a body to receive reports from whistleblowers about safety concerns in the aviation sector.

Brussels has warned the Irish authorities that they have four months to address their failure to comply with a 2014 EU regulation designed to encourage proactive reporting of safety issues in civil aviation or it may refer the infringement to the Court of Justice of the EU.

An adverse finding by the CJEU could result in the Irish government being hit with large daily fines until it achieves compliance with EU legislation.

“Member states should designate a ‘just-culture body’ to ensure that anyone reporting safety-relevant events or occurrences in civil aviation is not penalised by their employers or by the member states’ authorities subject to specific exceptions mentioned in the regulation,” the Commission said.

Such a designated body is also responsible for ensuring that every organisation involved in civil aviation in Ireland, such as airlines, adopts internal rules for the implementation of measures to protect whistleblowers.

Ireland is one of ten EU member states that have so far failed to comply with the 2014 regulation that obliges EU member states to designate a body to receive reports from whistleblowers.

The European Commission has issued a reasoned opinion to the Irish authorities on the matter which is the penultimate stage before legal proceedings are commenced.

The EU legislation states that a “just culture” should encourage individuals to report safety-related information but it should not absolve them of their normal responsibilities.

A spokesperson for the Minister for Transport, Shane Ross, said it was intended that the Irish Aviation Authority would be designated as the “just culture” body under EU legislation.

However, some stakeholders including the airline pilots’ union, IALPA, have consistently expressed concern that the IAA is exposed to a conflict of interest in its dual roles of overseeing safety issues and being responsible for air traffic control services at the same time.

The Government announced in 2017 that IAA’s air traffic control services needed to be separated from its safety regulation functions to be consistent with best practice.

The IAA’s safety regulation division is being merged with the Commission for Aviation Regulation to form a new regulatory body.

An independent audit of the IAA’s performance on overseeing technical and safety standards in the aviation sector published in March observed there was “a history of discontent” between the IAA and IALPA. It described the relationship between the two bodies as “poor”.

The audit said IALPA had raised some concerns, particularly in relation to fatigue and flight time limits, which deserved further investigation by the IAA.

It also noted legislation to designate the IAA as the independent just culture body was not in place.

However, a spokesperson for Mr Ross said the statutory instrument designating the just culture body was currently being finalised between the Department of Transport and the Attorney General’s Office.

The audit claimed the pace of the separation project has been slower than expected and there were uncertainties within the IAA over the transition towards a new regulator.

“Giving the new structure a level of independence would support the building of additional trust with stakeholders,” it added.

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