Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That did not materialise. Not to put too fine a point on it, what has happened is that the deferred pensioners in particular have been thrown under the bus by the Government. The Minister met them, as did the Tánaiste, and undertakings were given that they would be given a fair hearing and that something would be done to rectify the situation. However, the Government did not want to know and still does not want to know. The reality for this group of pensioners — fine people who in Aer Lingus served the country and the airline well, truly and honourably — will be put to the pin of their collar in their old age. That is the story for them. As the Minister spins his good news, that is the reality for them.

However, the Minister seems to have carried the day because he has successfully convinced his Government colleagues that his "B" share, his golden share, somehow allows for an ongoing veto in respect of the Heathrow slots. In front of me I have a copy of the agreement struck with IAG and also a copy of Article 10 from the articles of association of Aer Lingus. Let us be clear and put on the record of the Dáil what will exist in perpetuity. There is to be an ongoing cast-iron guarantee that Aer Lingus Group plc will not change its name. Equally, there is a guarantee that Aer Lingus itself will operate under the name Aer Lingus and a guarantee that the brass plate, the head office, will be headquartered in the Republic of Ireland. After that, my friends, there will be nothing else - nothing whatsoever.

I heard Deputy O'Dowd praise in a heightened emotional state the wonder of having an absolute ongoing veto over the disposal of the Heathrow slots. The Minister, Deputy Donohoe, needs to make it clear when he speaks — I assume he will make the concluding remarks in this debate — that no such veto exists. What the Minister will be allowed to do is convene an extraordinary general meeting, at which the shareholders will decide whether to dispose of the Heathrow slots. If anybody imagines this is a win for Aer Lingus, the Government or State, he needs to give his head a shake. The members of the Labour Party, in particular, who pledged to protect the strategic interests of the country and citizens in Aer Lingus need to wake up and smell the coffee. There is no veto regarding the Heathrow slots. There is a commitment for five years and a conditional commitment for an additional two years in respect of the use of those slots. While this is true, the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, the Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach, Deputy Paul Kehoe, and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Simon Coveney, who has left the Chamber, should realise that, in seven years, we will still live on an island. I predict that in seven years, not only will we not have any controlling influence over the use of Heathrow slots, we will have no veto because it is not written down in any of these documents. This is what makes the failure of the Government to provide to every Deputy these documents and others that exist in respect of this deal all the more cynical and disgraceful. It is utterly cynical on the part of the Minister. It is utterly cynical to deny the transport committee its right to scrutinise the detail. There is not a veto and Members on the Government side simply repeating like parrots that there is one does not change that reality.

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