Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to have the opportunity to discuss this issue. I was shocked at the one-sided nature of the coverage of, welcome for and fawning over the announcement that Norwegian Air International, NAI, will operate transatlantic flights from Cork. The move has been long in the making and has been an issue of major concern for unions in the airline industry on both sides of the Atlantic. As we know, NAI is a wholly-owned Irish subsidiary of Norwegian Air Shuttle, NAS. The scheme is an effort to circumvent the US-EU Open Skies agreement and usher in a Walmart-style race to the bottom for cheap labour. These are the words of some of the American unions. This is the business model of NAS: a Norwegian airline registers its aircraft in Ireland, rents flight crews based in Thailand who are covered by Singapore labour laws and applies for a foreign air carrier permit from the US.

NAS already had the relevant US permits to fly. It could have operated from Cork to Boston for the past two years but held off until it got the US permit for its Irish subsidiary, NAI. Why was that? There would have been no difference at all to the consumer. The airlines in the group offer a common and identical product and brand. The only reason it held off was to cynically engage the Irish-American lobby and the Government to get the US permit for NAI to operate in what is, in effect, a policy of social dumping. The CEO of NAI has had meetings with the Irish Airline Pilots Association, IALPA, and other pilots unions in Ireland and has admitted that NAI's business model would not work without an Asian cost base on the EU to US routes. This is the only way cheap fares can be offered. While there may be a temporary advantage in getting people easy, lower-cost access to the US, it will ultimately be at a cost of undermining jobs and conditions in the airline industry. This is incredibly serious.

I have heard utterances from NAI saying it was not going to use Asian crew. This is not about the nationality or the base of the crew involved. It is about the jurisdiction of the contracts of employment under which they operate. An Asian crew is being paid between $400 and $450 per month. The precedent is already there. The airline has flown routes from Oslo to the US using crews that are 100% based in Thailand. Irish and American wages could not compete with it. With this arrangement, the Minister's Department is facilitating what is essentially, and could be called nothing but, social dumping. Ireland is a flag of convenience in a race to the bottom regarding labour laws. The pilots have asked to meet the Minister. I would like him to comment on this. They are desperately keen for the Minister to take them up on their offer if he is so sure this is the best way forward.

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