Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Why does the Minister think Norwegian Air Group, which has no connection whatsoever with Ireland and which already has a number of wholly-owned subsidiaries, decided to establish a base in Ireland? Given the size of its population, Ireland is not very attractive. The only conclusion one can come to is that this was done to avoid Norway's labour and tax laws. The carrier could have operated its base last year. It did not need to get clearance to operate last year. However, it could not have done it with access to the cheaper crews. Now, it can operate. It chose to do it, and the reason is backed up its CEO's statement that it would not have worked if the company did not have access to the Asian cost base.

I make the point and register it. By allowing this arrangement to go ahead we are in reality standing over a type of social dumping. I want to nail any idea that there is any racism in this or anything like that. It has nothing to do with that. The objection is about the jurisdiction of the contract of employment, not the citizenship or base of the crew. For example, Irish crew working in different airlines all over the world are employed under contracts in different countries and have no right of access to the Labour Court even if they live in Dublin. This arrangement facilitates the employment of crew who are covered by arrangements in Asia where wages are sadly of the order of $400 to $450 per month. That is an incredibly serious threat to conditions of employment in Ireland, across Europe and in America, which is why AFL-CIO and America's unions in particular had huge concerns about this measure.

The last time Ireland was put out there as a lucrative base to attract people, it was in relation to our banking sector. Look where that ended up. We are now going to pimp the country out as a place for airlines with no connection here. Let us be clear that they said that no crew or pilots they will employ will be Irish. If they are not taking on any Irish staff, why are they here? This country is being put out there because of our laxity on labour law and tax rates.

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