Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that the Minister has recognised the seriousness of the issue and I agree with him that it is Ryanair that is primarily responsible. The company will pay a heavy price for its treachery. It is a case of the chickens coming home to roost.

There has never been a better time for pilots at Ryanair to organise. I am shocked when I think back that it is nearly 20 years ago since we stood outside the white house, the Ryanair headquarters at Dublin Airport, to watch Michael O'Leary give the finger to trade unionists who had assembled in support of the right of Ryanair workers to organise. I am not asking the Minister about the things he cannot control but, rather, about the things he can control. The Government and that which preceded it have facilitated a process whereby the lack of employment regulation in Ireland has facilitated a European-wide situation whereby Ryanair bases in France and Denmark have been shut down and people have been employed on Irish contracts - bogus self-employment Irish contracts. We have a responsibility to that end. We have a responsibility in the context of the European Court of Justice ruling that Ryanair is going to appeal. What I want to know, in the interest of decent workers rights and safe pilot conditions, is what the Government is doing in order to protect that scenario?

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