Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Like my colleague, Deputy Crowe, I want to use my 150 seconds to make a special plea to the Minister, the Government and the incoming Government to intercede with Aer Lingus to persuade it to reverse the unfair, discriminatory and possibly illegal way it has treated its staff in Shannon Airport for the reasons outlined by my colleague. The Minister may well say that Aer Lingus is a private company and beyond the remit of the Government but we all know there is significant interdependence between Aer Lingus, as the national carrier, and the Government. As we speak, the Government is helping Aer Lingus by paying most of its staff wages, under the wage subsidy scheme, and that interdependence will continue. The Government is not just a disinterested, hapless bystander. The Government can and should intercede because the treatment of those workers in Shannon Airport has been nothing short of a disgrace. They are looking to be allowed to return to work. Shannon Airport, technically, is still in operation. We saw that today with the emergency landing of a plane bringing in protective equipment. Shannon Airport was the only airport in the country in which it could land. The workers are there.

They should be allowed to work part-time from 22 June to supplement their Covid payments. That is their demand. It is quite reasonable and should be acceded to. I also want to criticise in the strongest possible terms the farcical and myopic decision of the board of Shannon Heritage to close some of the most iconic sites in the west of Ireland for all but six weeks of the foreseeable future. Tourism in the region will be terminally damaged by this decision if it is allowed to stand. The decision takes no account of the disastrous multiplier effect on the economy. As the Minister will know, it is incumbent on the country to reboot the economy quickly in the wake of the Covid crisis. Tourism is one of our most labour-intensive sectors. It is probably the largest indigenous employer in the country. I am sure that the incoming Government will, as part of rebooting the economy, try to promote tourism to the absolute best of its ability. We do not want the mid-west to be excluded from that process. I appeal to the Government to intervene in this matter, as it can well do.

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