Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Government was dealt a weak hand regarding Aer Lingus, given that we controlled only 25% of it. Given the importance of air transport to Ireland, an island nation, I, along with a number of my Labour Party colleagues, put a motion at the last Labour Party conference asking that the IAG bid for Aer Lingus be rejected by the Government until four issues were addressed. I commend the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Donohoe, on the way he has worked with us to address these issues. He took the contents of the motion very seriously.

The first issue was the need for an independent valuation of the assets of Aer Lingus. This has been done, and it has resulted in a considerable increase in the price offer to €2.50 per share. Probably the issue dearest to the hearts of the Deputies concerned was the need for a firm commitment in terms of registered employment agreements. Even in the past day, great progress has been made on it and there are indications that while some members of the trade union movement are not entirely happy, others are and they see the benefits of both this element of the deal and the fact that it will be tied into legislation that will shortly be introduced to the House. The third issue was the guarantees regarding connectivity and the Heathrow slots. The country has scored very highly on this. I find it difficult to believe how successfully we have dealt with the issue. Not only do we have commitments for Cork, Shannon and Dublin for the next seven years, we also have an indefinite veto over the sale of the slots in Heathrow. I am delighted and amazed that we have made that major achievement. The prime reason Fianna Fáil retained 25% of Aer Lingus when it sold 75% of the company was so that it would have some influence over those slots, which are extremely important to the country.

The deal goes much further than that, however. I commend all those involved in achieving a successful outcome. We cannot overstate the importance of the achievement.

The fourth part of our motion was a plan to promote Shannon and Cork airports because we were aware that they were in a vulnerable position. Considerable progress has been made in this regard, including the retention of the Cork-Paris and Cork-Amsterdam route and the plan to grow business at Shannon, where business has already grown by 17% in the last year. In light of Ireland's pivotal position for air traffic between Europe and North America and the customs arrangements in Shannon and Dublin, we are well placed to benefit from passenger growth.

Given that the Minister has delivered on the four matters of concern for us, we would be wrong if we did not support this motion. I am delighted that we took a stand on the issue because it helped to focus the Cabinet's attention on getting the best deal possible for Ireland. Deputy Creighton has accused the Government of pandering to Labour Party backbenchers. I make no apology for acting in the best interest of this country and any backbencher or Minister who acts according to that principle should be commended. As long as we have the interest of the country and its people at heart, we are doing our jobs well. This is why I was involved in an attempt to influence Government decisions for the better.

It was previously assumed that the €335 million the Government will receive from the sale its stake in Aer Lingus would be used to reduce our national debt. I welcome that the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform has reached an agreement with the European Commission to spend the money on infrastructure projects such as roads, rail and broadband. We did not think of that as a bonus when we were preparing our statement. We certainly need considerable investment in infrastructure. This decision is in our national interest because Aer Lingus is a small airline, albeit a successful one, that has to compete against larger companies. By linking with IAG, it will have access to locations across the world, as well as reducing the costs incurred by smaller airlines. The cost per aircraft for a small airline is much greater than is the case for a larger company. It has been estimated that 2 million additional tourists will visit Ireland by 2020. We should be thinking about how we can best accommodate these additional numbers because while they will help to create employment they will also put more pressure on our infrastructure. We have a great deal to offer but areas of the country would benefit from further investment. We should be thinking about the future.

I was surprised that at the eleventh hour I was given a glimpse of the Nyras report. I challenged the CEO of Aer Lingus, Mr. Stephen Kavanagh, about this and his response was that the report largely dealt with reducing costs in destinations outside this country. For example, Aer Lingus considered it was paying too much for baggage handling in Brussels. I am curious as to why the report was only shown to one or two of us at such a late stage.

I recognise that Aer Lingus cannot stand still. We are in a competitive environment and we must be able to succeed. This deal will ensure the future success of the airline industry in Ireland and bring benefits to the country. It amazes me that we have managed to get such a good deal on the Heathrow slots. It is beyond my highest expectations and it is great that the money we will get can be invested in infrastructure projects rather than put towards our debt. I commend the Minister and all who worked on this deal.

See this speech in context