Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I am struck by the statements of both of our guests. Oddly, there is something I very much agree with in them, namely, that, as an island nation, we need an aviation industry and a national airline. AIG may well let Aer Lingus go bust, but is that not a reminder to us all that the privatisation of that airline was not just a mistake in the first place but a catastrophic one for workers, for the State and for the economy at large? I am in favour of helping workers in both airlines but we should remind ourselves that the model in the aviation industry is unsustainable in the long term from the point of view of climate and the environment. We need connectivity and a functioning airline industry. Our guests submissions include many figures but what they have left out are the figures for the airline community in the year prior to Covid-1. I refer to several hundreds of millions of euro for Aer Lingus and in the region of €1 billion for Ryanair. They both make the case for State aid in one form or another. The State is paying a large part of the companies' wages under the wage subsidy scheme and their workers have a good case for assistance, but both companies have behaved badly towards their workers. They have undermined them and tried to impose lay-offs, wage cuts and the rearrangement of contracts.

I ask the witness from Ryanair to explain why the company is coming in here with its hand out pleading for more support while it is making applications to the High Court for costs of up to €13.5 million in respect of 11 pilots arising from their right to ballot their members for industrial action? Ten of those pilots are based in Ireland and their ability to represent their colleagues is being restricted. To me, that looks like intimidation. Ryanair has sacked pilot representatives across Europe in disproportionate numbers. The best description we have of the company's negotiations with unions since its so-called recognition of them is torturous. Self-employed pilots have been used as an industrial weapon against direct employees in terms of the scheduling of full-time rosters for those who are self-employed and leaving direct employees without any flight work. In the context of its efforts to divide and conquer the workers and take these 11 pilots through the High Court to seek retribution regarding their right to ballot their members, the company has no right to come here with its hand out to the State looking for more money. If it were to back off in the war on workers, we might be able to support the cases of both Aer Lingus and Ryanair and there might be some way of bargaining support for their demands for more state aid. Can Ryanair address the question of why it is pursuing these pilots in this manner, please?