John Lyons (Dublin North West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am probably the Deputy who lives closest to the airport although I am probably not the Deputy with the largest number of Aer Lingus workers in his or her constituency. However, I have a significant number.

Whether I like it, the position for Aer Lingus before the deal was proposed was that its future could not be predicted.

There was strong evidence that, if this bid was not accepted, there could be in the near future a bid with unforeseen consequences such as a hostile takeover, to use bidding and takeover terminology.

Many of us have a sentimental attachment to the brand of the national airline, although technically it is not the national airline as it was privatised by the then Fianna Fáil Government in 2006, yet the people have a 25% shareholding in it. Unfortunately, that 25% shareholding, as we all know, can do diddly squat in protecting the future of Aer Lingus. Those who have spoken before me and who will vote "No" tomorrow are being hypocritical. They will sit on the sidelines to see where the wind blows on this issue, rather than make a real and mature decision which could create a viable airline, which is how we would all like to see Aer Lingus.

Many of the Deputies within my party were not happy with the original proposal in December as it offered no guarantees on connectivity, jobs or other airports such as Cork, Shannon and Knock airports. The current bid and proposal is much more positive than the original. I am genuinely satisfied that it offers for the first time a viable future for the Aer Lingus brand which we all know so well and to which we have an innate attachment. It offers the possibility of survival into the future as part of a much larger conglomeration and with increased access to other airports and services. The net result is that people's jobs will be safe and that their working conditions will remain the same, as the CEO, Mr. Stephen Kavanagh, stated today and yesterday.

In the past 15 years of restructuring Aer Lingus has been made profitable again. I must acknowledge that the workers, through the sacrifices they have made, have played a huge part in making it profitable. During the 15 years of restructuring the company never introduced compulsory redundancies; it has always relied on voluntary redundancies. This same process will apply in the future. I was delighted to hear Mr. Kavanagh say Aer Lingus's preference was to use direct labour - its own staff - and that it did not have a preference, in any way whatsoever, for outsourcing.

At the end of the day, it would be nice not to have this conversation, but that would not be the mature thing to do. We could all pretend the problem might go away. The reality is that Aer Lingus's future with a 25% State share must be discussed. It would not be mature to pretend we do not need to make a decision on the issue. Standing idly by is not an option. Voting "No" in the hope a better option will come along is also not an option. This is the best option before the Dáil and it offers the best opportunity for Aer Lingus to survive into the future.

I heard someone on radio this morning make a good point, although I would not agree with the particular gentleman on everything. He said that for a company to survive, it needed to have relevance and dependency. This proposal will increase Aer Lingus's dependency and relevance as an airline throughout not only Europe and the north Atlantic but also beyond. It gives opportunities for Aer Lingus to become better than what it is, yet at the same time maintain all of the things to which we aspire for it in terms of its brand, the Heathrow Airport slots and connectivity, the indefinite veto on their sale and, ultimately, the protection of the rights of every single staff member in the company, please God, into the future. I will be supporting this deal because we cannot say "No" to it. We cannot pretend that there is a better option in town. It may be too late to do so.

There is one last thing I wish to say. When the debate is finished, the conversation on what happened to some of the IAS deferred pensioners which was morally wrong must be taken up. With the Labour Party Members and some Fine Gael Members who fought for strengthened conditions, I, for one, will be following up on the issue to ensure we can in some way put right at least some of the wrong done to some of the deferred pensioners. This is not the day, however, to discuss that matter.

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