Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Ryanair is not only a non-union company, it is an explicitly anti-union company. It is run like a corporate dictatorship. Any worker in Ryanair who stood up and announced that he or she planned to try to unionise his or her fellow workers faced immediate sacking. I put it to the Minister that the absence of trade union organisation is part of the problem, as is the absence of trade union rights. If trade unions existed in Ryanair, there would be better wages and better conditions, and, perhaps, this crisis might have been averted. I hope that part of the legacy of this dispute is that Ryanair pilots - and also cabin crew, baggage handlers and other staff - win trade union rights and recognition. My question to the Minister is whether he has any comment to make on trade union rights for Ryanair pilots and whether he is willing to meet the Irish Airline Pilots Association to discuss a section 32 examination of the IAA, in other words, issues relating to public safety arising from the way Ryanair operates.

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