Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It will certainly not be an easy road. It is a pretty desolate road at the moment. We have consistently been calling for action. The language is so familiar, as it has been for months. The Minister of State mentioned the fact the EWSS has been put in place, as was the temporary wage subsidy scheme, TWSS, was before that. We are talking about a survival package, a recovery package that is going to protect jobs.

Four Aer Lingus aeroplanes that would otherwise have taken off from Ireland will now be taking off from Manchester. This has been flagged to us on the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications Networks for a long time. It is not going to be like the old days. It will not be a case of rocking up to Dublin Airport to find someone has put a chain on the gates, saying all the jobs are gone. It is not going to be one big event. Jobs are going to go in dribs and drabs. They will be shaved off. That is what is happening. When four aeroplanes that were resident in Ireland go, they are gone and the jobs will go with them. Baggage handlers are going. Fuellers are going. They are going in ones, two, sixes and dozens, but they are going. Their livelihoods are gone. That is happening right now and there is deafening silence from the Government on the issue. It is the same thing over and over again.

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