Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach's response was brief and he was very keen to trivialise some of the issues. The problem for the Taoiseach is that it is not about going around the globe - ranging from the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, to Dublin Bus, Shannon and An Post is not about being long-winded - but about a system and approach being adopted by the Government to systematically undermine decent wages and conditions in the semi-State companies. There is no other explanation for it.

It was not the workers who ended the talks. The workers were engaged in discussion with management, but management pulled the plug in a draconian way - in a company in which the State owns a 25% shareholding. That did not just happen in regard to the cabin crew. The Taoiseach is aware there is a pensions crisis in Aer Lingus. The same chief executive has sent into the Labour Court a negotiating team that does not have a mandate and which is refusing to deal with that crisis. At stake here are serious issues for workers. Will the Taoiseach order his chief executives in the semi-State companies to engage in the industrial relations machinery in the State? For once, could he stand behind the workers who built those companies, rather than behind the management who are trying to erode their terms and conditions of employment?

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