Woman fined for operating unlicensed rugby flights

MUNSTER rugby fans crowded into a Limerick courtroom yesterday to support Pamela Hickey, the woman who takes them on low-cost flights to away games.

Some supporters hugged the 31-year-old mother-of- one, after she was fined for operating as a tour operator without a licence and conducting a business as a travel agent without a licence.

The court heard she sold rugby packages under the name of Munster Sporting Club from a crèche she operates in Limerick.

Hickey of Vianden, Ashfort, Patrickswell, Co Limerick, was fined €1,000 and ordered to pay €500 costs.

The court heard her latest flight to Italy for the Six Nations clash in Rome last weekend ran into difficulties. Judge Tom O'Donnell said the problems last weekend, when a plane had to be replaced due to financial difficulties, showed the risks to those travelling with an unbonded operator.

Defence solicitor Pat Barriscale said Hickey did not make any profit out of the Munster flights, but operated them to enable the best supporters in the Heineken Cup to travel to support their team.

Mr Barriscale said the Munster team has acknowledged Hickey's efforts and were grateful for the support they get abroad thanks to her low-cost flights.

There was a huge gulf in the transport costs for away pool games and Hickey decided to put a charter in place to allow supporters to get to away games.

"There was no benefit or profit for her," Mr Barriscale said.

"It was done solely on a cost basis ... Travel agents are substantially more expensive than Ms Hickey."

The unlicensed 2003 charter for which she was fined was for two nights and cost €320 with Hickey.

Travel agents in Limerick were charging €540 for a similar package.

Fintan Deere of the Commission for Aviation Regulation said they received complaints in 2003 about Hickey's flights as she did not have a licence or a bond to protect clients if they failed to travel.

She was operating as the Munster Sporting Club and investigators went to Shannon on December 5, 2003, when a Munster flight was due to leave for Bourgoin in France.

They met Hickey at Shannon that day and she accepted she was operating without the necessary licences.

Judge O'Donnell said Munster away games were fraught, as they involved so much travel to France.

However, there was a serious side to the case, as flights operated without a licence and bond could be catastrophic if they were cancelled, as nearly happened at the weekend.

As she left the court, Hickey was greeted by Munster fans who sat in the public gallery.

Meanwhile, in a separate development last night, it emerged that a charter organised by Hickey for Munster's Heineken Cup quarter-final clash against Biarritz is likely to go ahead.

This game is due to be played in France on Sunday, April 3. Most seats on the charter have already been sold.

Aviation Regulator Commissioner Bill Prasifska said last night that they cannot prevent the owners of an aircraft providing a charter for an unlicensed operator.

Mr Prasifska said: "We don't have any powers of stopping a plane taking off."

He said if they learn that an unlicensed charter has operated, they go through a lengthy investigative process and then go to the Director of Public Prosecutions, who would decide whether to go to court.