Minister told to investigate trainee pilots’ €10m fees

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.

Denis O’Donovan will also seek further details about the statement sent to Irish Aviation Authority, and signed off on by Pilot Training College’s (PTC) auditors, last October, which confirmed the company had sufficient funds to enable student training to be completed to required standards.

Meanwhile, PTC released details last night of how it intends to look after the 180 private and airline-sponsored students from whom it took fees over the past 18 months but then left in the lurch in Florida.