PRELIMINARY RESPONSES TO DEMARCHE ON ICAO ASSEMBLY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DUBLIN 001195 SIPDIS MONTREAL FOR USICAO DEPARTMENT FOR IO/T AND EB/TRA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: AORC EAIR ICAO SUBJECT: PRELIMINARY RESPONSES TO DEMARCHE ON ICAO ASSEMBLY ISSUES REF: A. STATE 168348 ¶B. STATE 129597 ¶1. On August 9, Post delivered ref A's talking points to Micheal O'Mealoid and Niamh O'Brien, Department of Transport Assistant Principals for Aviation Regulation and International Relations. O'Mealoid noted that several Department officials involved in ICAO issues, principally Robin McKay, Assistant Director General for Aviation, were on leave and that the GOI would refine its positions for the ICAO General Assembly upon their return. O'Mealoid, however, did give preliminary responses to ref A's talking points, per below. -------------- --- Universal Safety Oversight Audit Program (USOAP) -------------- --- ¶2. O'Mealoid said he did not expect Ireland to have difficulties with U.S. positions on USOAP. Specifically, Ireland would likely concur with U.S. suggestions for ICAO to provide full final audit reports to Contracting States and for the USOAP audit team to validate a Contracting State's statements on implementing ICAO standards or accomplishing corrective measures. -------------- Regional Safety Oversight Organizations -------------- ¶3. Ireland supports regional safety oversight organizations and initiatives, as reflected in EU Member States' support for the European Single Sky, the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC),and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). -------------- Environment -- Emissions Charges -------------- ¶4. O'Mealoid said that there was no Irish deviation from the EU position, which favors the implementation of CO2 emissions charges on planes flying in European airspace. He added that Ireland would concur with the talking point that such charges would only cut CO2 emissions by cutting demand. -------------- Flight Information Regions (FIRs) -------------- ¶5. Ireland agrees in principle with the U.S. position that ICAO should base its decisions regarding the allocation of airspace in FIRs on operational efficiency of air traffic management, according to O'Mealoid. He observed that Ireland was negotiating to take over from the UK the management of a North Atlantic flight information bloc. He underscored that this would simply be a change in operational oversight, not partition of an existing FIR. -------------- Increasing Electronic Communications -------------- ¶6. O'Mealoid noted that Ireland would not have difficulty with the U.S. recommendation to limit the delivery of hard-copy documents to countries that can receive them electronically. -------------- U.S. ICAO Council Candidacy -------------- ¶7. In regard to ref B's talking points, O'Mealoid said that Transport Department officials and Ireland's Mission to ICAO had received demarches from other countries seeking election to the ICAO Council and were now evaluating the candidates. He added that he would be surprised if Ireland did not support the U.S. bid for reelection to Part 1 of the ICAO Council, given the importance of the United States in international aviation. -------------- Irish Delegation -------------- ¶8. Anne McGinley, Ireland's Representative to ICAO, will lead the Irish delegation at the ICAO General Assembly. The Transport Department's Assistant Director General for Aviation, Robin McKay, will be part of the delegation, which will also include at least one Department of Foreign Affairs official. A final delegation list will probably not be available until early September. (Econoff provided to O'Mealoid and O'Brien the letter of invitation to Transportation Secretary Mineta's lunch on September 28.) KENNY