Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

The key point is that there is in place a no strike clause at Dublin Airport in respect of workers involved in transport. Obviously, the air traffic controllers are not party to this agreement. We must ensure, through the negotiating system and the national talks on partnership that key transport workers, like air traffic controllers, are party to a no strike clause in whatever agreements are reached. Other key workers in the transport industry at Dublin Airport are party to such an agreement.

Potential strikes, particularly in the aviation industry, affect hundreds of thousands of people. There are almost 800 flights per day in and out of this country. Thousands of people were affected by the recent air traffic controllers threatened strike. They had to change their travel dates and could not do the business they were scheduled to do on the day causing them great uncertainty. We are a modern dynamic economy and we must ensure that key transport workers such as air traffic controllers cannot strike. We must ensure in this regard that there is in place an agreement such as that already negotiated for other workers in the same industry.

See this speech in context