Mr. Gerry Clarke:

I will speak from the perspective of the situation in Shannon. Following on from what Ms Connolly said, if we had introduced a proper support model for aviation workers, especially airline workers, who have been even more affected than workers in some of the other aviation areas, and had something like the German model, Aer Lingus might not have to make the decision it made last week. It would have been able possibly to make a decision to keep us in receipt of supports and on the payroll and we would have been able to pay our mortgages, be part of society and have some standard of living but we have no such standard now. We are living on the pandemic unemployment payment and have to go to the banks all the time to see if we can have a chat with them. Even if we get to have a chat, the banks will add on the extra expense to our mortgages. In response to Deputy McNamara's question, we have been too slow to act and, as a result, Shannon cabin crew could potentially lose their jobs.