Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Clare Daly for bringing this matter to my attention. The aviation sector has been an important employer in Ireland for many years. It supports 26,000 jobs directly and a further 16,000 in the supply chain. Ireland's tourism industry, which is heavily dependent on aviation, accounts for a further 180,000 jobs. Aer Lingus itself, now a fully privately-owned airline within the lAG group, employs in the region of 4,000 people.

At the time of the takeover offer, IAG anticipated that, under its ownership, there would be significant job creation opportunities in Aer Lingus's business, predominantly located in Ireland, with net employment growth However, in the context of the Deputy's reference to promises made by lAG regarding jobs, I would like to make a number of clarifications. The legally-binding commitments made by IAG as part of its offer for Aer Lingus relate to Heathrow slots, the location of the headquarters and the Aer Lingus brand. These commitments from IAG are enshrined in Aer Lingus's articles and are enforced via the single Aer Lingus share retained in the name of the Minster for Finance. At no point did IAG make legally-binding commitments to the Government on Aer Lingus jobs as part of its offer. Furthermore, the Government has no role in making or seeking commitments regarding employment in private companies.

The role of the Government at the time was to accept the offer from lAG and to accept the conditions under which the Minister for Finance would retain a single share in the company. My functions, as Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport on Aer Lingus, are now essentially the same as with any Irish airline.

Any statements made by the companies at the time of the offer concerning growth, jobs, new routes and industrial relations would all be regarded as forward-looking in nature. Such statements were made in good faith by IAG and were based on the available information at the time. However, I reiterate that such statements were never presented by the companies concerned or by the Government at the time as promises.

Having clarified this matter, I can state that since IAG's takeover, Aer Lingus's business has progressed broadly in line with the plans outlined in the offer documentation. In terms of passenger growth and new routes, the company has outperformed what was envisaged at the time of the offer. For example, the offer envisaged two additional transatlantic routes in 2016, whereas three were launched, with a further new service to Miami announced in 2017 and new services to Philadelphia and Seattle announced for 2018. Aer Lingus now offers direct connections between Ireland and 13 major North American airports, and the significant part of this growth has occurred post the 2015 acquisition of Aer Lingus by lAG.

While matters concerning workforce planning are entirely for the company, one would expect that the significant growth in Aer Lingus's passenger numbers, routes and fleet has resulted in a net increase in employment in the company. In this context, it is noted that Aer Lingus recently announced that, since its introduction in 2014, its new strategy created more than 600 new jobs to the end of 2017. It was also announced that the airline will add eight new Airbus A321 long-range aircraft to the fleet. It is understood that this expansion will see the airline add approximately 800 new jobs between 2019 and 2020.

I also welcome the increased connectivity provided by Aer Lingus, particularly in the transatlantic market, which has positive knock-on effects for employment at our airports and in the tourism sector and the wider trading economy. In particular, the stand-out tourism statistic for recent years has been the rapid increase in the number of tourists visiting Ireland from North America, which increased by more than 15% again last year. The commitment and investment which IAG has made, through Aer Lingus's transatlantic services and the growth of Dublin Airport as a transit hub for such services, has certainly helped facilitate this growth in the number of tourists to Ireland from that market.

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