Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

I thank the Tánaiste for her statement. This debate is about the 800 or so redundant, highly skilled former employees of SR Technics who lost their jobs and, in many cases, most of their pensions. I am not interested in a bun fight between the Tánaiste, Mr. Michael O'Leary and Ryanair, the Dublin Airport Authority or the IDA, nor am I interested in political egos, bullying businessmen or State agencies and companies protecting their territory. Like every other Member of the House, I am interested in securing jobs and investment for Dublin Airport and north Dublin.

I ask the Tánaiste to do the one thing she has not done to date, namely, take a hands-on approach to jobs and investment. She took a hands off approach to Dell, the mid-western task force, SR Technics and Kraft Cadbury. I ask her not to take such an approach on this or any other future occasion but instead to do everything in her power to ensure the jobs and investment in question come to Dublin, whether to hangar 6, hangars 1 to 5 or another location.

The Tánaiste must ensure the same supports are made available to Ryanair, a successful, indigenous Irish company, as are made available to foreign companies, which receive much larger grants for providing many fewer jobs. In that respect, she will be familiar with a jobs announcement by Bell Laboratories in recent weeks. While I do not criticise the decision taken in that matter, there is a major distinction between her approach to foreign direct investment and her approach to indigenous Irish companies which are prepared to invest and create hundreds of jobs here.

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