Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 2: To ask the Minister for Transport if he will call an extraordinary general meeting of Aer Lingus to deal with the proposed loss of Shannon Airport's Heathrow slots; when he will fill the two vacant Government directorships on the board of Aer Lingus; the directions and roles these two directors will be mandated with; the contacts he has had with Aer Lingus management, unions or State industrial relations bodies in terms of the current industrial relations turmoil and the possible effects of same on the social partnership process if the current approach is allowed to proceed; if he will use the powers available to the Government under section 38 of the Industrial Relations Act 1990 to refer the dispute to the Labour Court or the Labour Relations Commission or to request the commission, the court or another body to conduct an inquiry into the dispute and to report back to him; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24529/07]

Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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The Government's legal advice is that, having regard to the duties of the board of directors pursuant to the Companies Acts and the memorandum and articles of association of Aer Lingus, shareholders do not have the power to overrule management decisions on business matters. In effect, this means that even if the Government on its own, or in combination with other shareholders, called an EGM, management of Aer Lingus is not obliged to follow any directions from shareholders regarding business matters or to obey any resolution regarding such matters.

Regarding the appointment of directors, the State is entitled under the memorandum and articles of association to appoint three directors to the board of Aer Lingus. Currently, there is one State appointed director serving on the board and it is now proposed that two further appointments will be made in the near future.

The State's appointees will seek to ensure that all future decisions of the company that have significant implications for wider Government, aviation or regional development policies are considered at board level. This will give the State appointees the opportunity to raise the public policy implications of each decision and to ensure that the full commercial implications for the company are taken into account. The State appointees to the board do not have a veto on board decisions. It is not possible for the State to avail of its shareholding to seek to impose non-commercial obligations on the company.

With regard to questions raised regarding industrial relations at Aer Lingus, these are matters for the company and the trade unions to address. The assistance of the industrial relations machinery of the State is regularly used to good effect by both parties and the need to avail of the provisions of section 38 of the Industrial Relations Act does not arise. I welcome, as I am sure Deputy Broughan does, the recent agreement reached at the LRC between management and Aer Lingus pilots.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Is it not a fact that the Minister seriously misled this House on 26 September 2007 when responding to the debate on Shannon Airport? I note that the 2006 annual report clearly states on corporate governance that the board is responsible for establishing overall group strategy, including new activities and withdrawal from existing activities.

The Minister and his predecessor, Deputy Martin Cullen, knew of the danger to slots at Shannon and possibly at Cork and Dublin since the expansion project. Is it not clear that Mr. Francis Hackett, the existing governor appointed by the Government, would have known of this expansion plan and would have been duty bound to bring it to the Minister's attention, notwithstanding the presence of directors such as Mr. Chris Wall and Mr. Ivor Fitzpatrick on the board?

The Minister now says that the two new directors will receive a mandate to look at regional policy and protect connectivity in Ireland. Surely that was the existing mandate for Mr. Hackett? Did the Minister, therefore, mislead the House on the matter during his speech on Shannon? Either the Minister should resign, with the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, or he is leading a totally dysfunctional Department, in which case he should still resign.

Is there a management committee structure in the Department? I certainly could not find any minutes of such a committee on the website. I shadowed the Minister when he was Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources and there was a management committee to which the Minister referred me several times. Why was this not passed up the line from Mr. John Murphy to the Secretary General to the Minister?

On the day he entered the Department, the Minister was given this document, a briefing of all the activities of the Department as of 14 June. Ms Julie O'Neill kindly gave me a copy when I became Labour Party spokesman on transport. It refers to a wide range of problems that might arise, but it does not mention the elephant in the room. Was the Minister not duty bound to ask if there were problems with the ongoing privatisation of Aer Lingus and Shannon Airport? Did the Minister not fail in that duty and mislead the House and should he not now resign?

Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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It usually takes Deputy Broughan a little longer to call for the resignation of the Minister he is shadowing.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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This is unprecedented.

Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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Inevitably, however, he does it fairly often during the course of a Government. The briefing document the Deputy refers to is the one I got containing information about various aspects of the work of the Department. I am glad the Deputy confirms there is nothing in it to indicate a problem.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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It mentions Shannon Airport several times, saying it has an unsustainable cost base.

Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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That is a totally separate issue to do with Shannon Airport generally. The Government, my predecessor and I were always aware when the company was to be privatised that the slots were among the most valuable assets, with staff and aircraft. We can see the competition for them and we endeavoured in the privatisation to put in place as much of a safeguard as we could to prevent the disposal of the slots. I am still confident that the rules, regulations, memorandum and articles of association protect the slots from disposal and they have served their purpose.