John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate, both as a Deputy representing County Mayo in the west and as Chairman of the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications which facilitated a series of meetings of all stakeholders, including Aer Lingus, its CEO, Mr. Stephen Kavanagh, IAG chief executive, Mr. Willie Walsh, Stobart Air, the unions, the pilots, the chambers of commerce and the representatives of the airport. I pay tribute to the Minister, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, for the way he has intensively thrown himself into this proposal that was put before him and also the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Ring, and all others involved in the Department. At the beginning I believed there were many risks involved and that considerable clarity and certainty were required. I am glad that all of the hearings of the transport committee gave the public a sense of what was on offer. In parallel and in order to reach the current phase of the process, considerable analysis was required in the Department under the Minister's direction. I have come from a place where I may have been a doubting Thomas to one where I am very strongly in support of what we have seen before us in the past 24 hours. Many of the arguments were teased out and many of the questions answered straightforwardly. The guarantees, clarity and certainty sought were forthcoming.

Let us consider the issues regarded by everybody in Ireland with emotion. They include the retention of the Aer Lingus brand, the retention of the headquarters in Dublin and the number of jobs to be created. There is to be net job growth of 150 by next year and 625 by 2020. There are to be no forced redundancies or job losses, as such. There may be a need for some reallocation of roles. If Aer Lingus, as a very strong, well organised company in recent years, was able to look after this area in a downturn, how much more will it be able to do so in times of growth?

Let us consider the idea of connectivity. As the regional Member or Member from the west, I note that Dublin, as a hub, will gain a lot from the deal. That is to be welcomed, but it should not happen at the expense of either Shannon or Cork Airport or Ireland West Airport Knock which is obviously close to my heart and those of the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Ring, and Deputy Michelle Mulherin. It became very clear at meetings that both Aer Lingus and IAG referred specifically to the existing Aer Lingus connectivity between Gatwick Airport and Shannon Airport. Over 500,000 passengers have used that route in recent years and 70,000 used it in 2014. The added strength and selling power of IAG and British Airways will only improve these figures.

Another significant aspect is the potential for tourism. This has been exploited by the Government. Both the Minister and the Minister of State, through their capacity for marketing, and the agencies of which they are in charge, including Bord Fáilte and Tourism Ireland, have been responsible for initiatives such as The Gathering, the Wild Atlantic Way, Ireland's Ancient East and the abolition of the travel tax. These are all part of the foundations. The Aer Lingus deal will build on them and create further growth.

I note Ireland West Airport Knock’s welcoming of the proposal announced last night. It looks forward to working with the new company when this becomes possible. Historically, there was a transatlantic flight into Knock airport, which is to resume later this summer on a once-off basis. I understand it is to be an Aer Lingus flight. The CEO, Mr. Stephen Kavanagh, was directly involved in the matter himself and I hope it will lead to future growth.

Aer Lingus has a strong balance sheet and has done well over the past number of years. It is a top player as an individual company but when a top player that has been fine tuned and restructured over a number of years enters a bigger team with other top players, if I can use sporting parlance here, it will be in a position to win some trophies as a result of the strength of the team it is joining by way of more market share, more passengers and more routes. This has also been articulated in the deal. Under the deal, there will be a veto on selling the slots and a guarantee that the slots will remain where they are for seven years. I commend the Government on this. I know that when Willie Walsh appeared before the committee when the matter was being teased out and was asked whether he would increase the guarantee from five to seven, eight or ten years, he said that his second offer was never as good as his first. I am glad to see that the Minister has convinced him otherwise.

I very much welcome what we have seen in the past 24 hours. We will have far more in addition to what we now have. I was glad to hear that the value of this deal was tested by the Minister independently of Aer Lingus or anyone else to see whether it was the best possible deal now or better than any deal that might be possible in the future and would future-proof the Aer Lingus brand and protect it from all the volatility that has been seen in the aviation market over the years. Perhaps I am wrong but the previous Government sold 75% of Aer Lingus for something like €269 million. I think this is €1 billion plus for 25% of it. I very much welcome this and the journey on which it has brought the public and people who had concerns. I am glad to see this finally going ahead and I commend this motion to the House.

See this speech in context