Former Pilot Training College students and their parents have asked the Government to ensure each individual trainee can finish their training without any additional cost.

Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar has confirmed that the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) will pay for trainee pilots who are stranded in the US to fly home.

A Fianna Fáil senator has urged the transport minister to investigate what happened to the €10m in fees paid by hundreds of trainee pilots after they went into the bank account of a Waterford-based company.

The first of 34 stranded Irish trainee pilots are due to make their way home from Florida today.

A group statement from the 80 Irish trainee pilots left stranded in the US after course chiefs failed to pay $1.2m (€960,000) in bills owed to their partner college has accused the Pilot Training College (PTC) chief executive of “providing false and misleading information”.

“I can’t describe how bad it is. It’s terrible to see grown men in tears. People are feeling highly depressed here. The mental strain is terrible. We loved this course. We’re devastated.”

The Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar has promised to bring home any Irish trainee pilots who are stranded in Florida, after their flight training was controversially cancelled.

Transport Minister Leo Varadkar said today that around 80 Irish trainee pilots, stranded in Florida, may not get all of their fees back.

Irish trainee pilots, stranded in Florida, are anxiously awaiting the outcome of restructuring aimed at saving their training college based in Waterford.

Less than a year ago, the Pilot Training College claimed it was “poised to become a European leader in aviation training” even though auditors said its net assets were less than half the amount of its called-up share capital.

One of the 200 families affected by the Florida pilot training crisis have said they “haven’t slept or eaten since this nightmare began”.

THREE recent graduates from Limerick Institute of Technology are setting off to the NASA space centre in Florida to further their studies under a partnership between LIT and the US facility.