Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The staffing issue was a source of tension and upset for many people. During Covid, many companies struggled to hold on to staff. Aer Lingus received a great deal of support from the Government and the taxpayer through the employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS. The decision on who would remain on and who would have to go seemed indiscriminate in some ways. Some of those people had been with the company for a long time. The decision was for the company to determine, but I examined a number of contracts, particularly those of people who joined Aer Lingus in the late 1980s and 1990s. Their contracts never specified what bases they were assigned to, only that they were employed by the airline.

They believed it was wrong that people who had recently joined the staff cohort in Dublin were retained whereas others in Shannon who had 30 years of service, or more, had to go. If Aer Lingus is issuing new contracts, the detail needs to be clear that the employee's job is secured to the airline, not to a base. Details that emerged at the time were never in the contract in the first place.