Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We are hearing from the IAG 8 but tomorrow night they will have a chance to walk the walk by voting beside Deputy Róisín Shortall and me. There is no question that any guarantees by IAG chief executive, Mr. Willie Walsh, to the Irish Government may be worthless as the years roll on after an IAG takeover. For example, we will not always have a Marino man - Mr. Walsh - in charge of the BA-Iberia combine. The ongoing threat posed to IAG, Air France, KLM, Lufthansa and other traditional aviation operators from low-cost operators like Ryanair and easyJet also suggests that Aer Lingus will be swallowed up and disappear when it enters IAG. It is hard to see too how calls by unions like SIPTU to protect jobs at Aer Lingus will be implemented by an organisation that ruthlessly cut 4,500 jobs when it took over Iberia.

Tomorrow evening it will be time for people to make the careful decision on this, as Deputy Róisín Shortall mentioned. I ask the IAG 8 to walk the walk. They will always be very welcome to walk beside me and Deputy Róisín Shortall in voting "No" to this short-sighted and very damaging sell-out of a key national asset. I urge them to do so.

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