Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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The chaos landed on hundreds of thousands of Ryanair passengers in the past week is really a case of chickens coming home to roost. The so-called magic of Ryanair and Mr. Michael O'Leary has been exposed as nothing more than the vulgar, bootboy tactics of vicious exploitation meted out on its crew and its pilots. I will not repeat the stories with which people are familiar from the airwaves - the charging of pilots €15 an hour to download an application form; the €30,000 to pay for their own training; and Ryanair taking on people with a couple of hundred hours' training experience. Is it any wonder that people are leaving it in droves? Is it any wonder that it is getting away with it given that it is facilitated by the operation of the State in this country?

Given the enormous safety risk for passengers of having pilots on zero-hour contracts, what is the Minister doing to tighten up the regulation in this area and improving collective bargaining? Ryanair carries 130 million passengers a year and employs tens of thousands of people under an Irish flag of convenience. The scam has been perpetuated - the myth, if one likes - by the pretence that crew based all over Europe are Irish crew on Irish contracts with recourse only to Irish courts. They get away with it because Ireland has no definition of what a self-employed person is. Therefore, we have agencies such as Brookfield, a tax haven in Gibraltar, and contracts that stipulate the services of a pilot are provided on a required and-or casual basis. There is no obligation on it to provide work. The European Cockpit Association blames these contracts for risks and for pilots turning up when sick when it is not safe for them to do so.

The European Court of Justice has blocked this. Ryanair is set to appeal. What is the Government's attitude to this because Ireland has for too long facilitated this appalling vista?

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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The pilots at Ryanair have mutinied against their pay and working conditions and I congratulate them on having done so.

The men and women who fly Ryanair aeroplanes, work to a Ryanair schedule and wear Ryanair uniforms operate under the fiction that they are self-employed. This is social dumping by Ryanair on a grand scale. There is a scandal in the context of sick pay, holiday pay and zero-hour contracts.

This summer, the Revenue, the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection and the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, organised a joint raid on a building site at Dolphin's Barn to combat bogus self-employment, and rightly so. Why has that not been done with Ryanair? I put it to the Minister that it is because the company is protected by the establishment that fetes it, by the parties that invite Michael O'Leary to their think-ins and by the Government, which holds up Ryanair as a glittering symbol and shining example of neoliberal capitalism. I have two questions for the Minister. First, does he not feel that symbol has been somewhat tarnished as a result of the events of recent weeks? What does he say to the proposal I put to him that the State has turned a blind eye to Ryanair's social dumping and is, therefore, part of the problem? What is the Government going to do to change that?

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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I thank Deputies Clare Daly and Barry for raising this very important and topical matter, namely, the recent crisis relating to and the pay and conditions of pilots at Ryanair.

The ongoing events affecting Ryanair flights across Europe, and especially those affecting Irish travellers, are deeply regrettable. This is a very serious, pan-European service failing that seems to have arisen at very short notice. The scale of the Ryanair network has certainly exacerbated the impact. There is some solace in EU consumer protection provisions, which in Ireland are safeguarded by the Commission for Aviation Regulation. As the designated national body for the enforcement of air passenger rights under Regulation No. 261/2004, I assure the Deputies that as soon as the announcements were made by Ryanair, our aviation regulator was in contact with the company to make sure consumer protection issues were to the fore. I am advised that those contacts are ongoing.

The regulator has confirmed that, under EU consumer protections, the carrier is obligated to reroute passengers at the earliest possible opportunity and to provide care and assistance, namely: meals and refreshments; hotel accommodation in cases where an overnight stay becomes necessary; transport between the airport and place of accommodation; and two telephone calls, emails, faxes or telexes. The airline must also offer the choice of a full refund. Those are steadfast requirements with which Ryanair will have to comply for all of its affected customers in Ireland.

The regulator has already advised affected customers to submit claims for refunds and compensation directly to the airline in the first instance. If consumers are not satisfied with the response of Ryanair, they may make a complaint to the regulator in cases where the cancelled a flight was from Ireland. Similarly, if a flight was due to depart from another EU member state, the complaint will be handled by the national enforcement body in that jurisdiction. Further information is available on the regulator's website, www.flightrights.ie.

As to the causes of this disruption, that is a matter for Ryanair to clarify and explain. I have no wish to speculate as to the inner workings of a private company. I note that a number of factors have been attributed by the company, including adverse weather conditions. However, in so far as the company has pointed to changes to EU regulations affecting leave arrangements for staff as a factor, I can advise the following: The Irish Aviation Authority, IAA, is the independent regulator in Ireland responsible for safety regulation, oversight and inspection. In that role, the IAA is responsible for ensuring that all Irish registered airlines comply with European aviation safety regulations, including those governing so-called flight time limitations.

Revised European flight time limitations came into effect last year, and Ryanair has transitioned to them. The limitations restrict the number of pilot and cabin crew hours that are permissible during a 12-month period. I am advised by the IAA that all Irish airlines have always been and continue to be fully compliant with the regulations governing flight time limitations. While I appreciate that the Deputies would very much like to instigate a broader debate on pay and conditions of workers, we are talking about a private, commercial company. I have no remit in this regard. Matters of staff relations, rosters, remuneration rates and terms and conditions of employment are a matter for the company and its employees. As I have explained, there are EU laws limiting annual flight times by pilots and crew, and I understand that Ryanair complies with those.

Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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I appreciate that the Minister has recognised the seriousness of the issue and I agree with him that it is Ryanair that is primarily responsible. The company will pay a heavy price for its treachery. It is a case of the chickens coming home to roost.

There has never been a better time for pilots at Ryanair to organise. I am shocked when I think back that it is nearly 20 years ago since we stood outside the white house, the Ryanair headquarters at Dublin Airport, to watch Michael O'Leary give the finger to trade unionists who had assembled in support of the right of Ryanair workers to organise. I am not asking the Minister about the things he cannot control but, rather, about the things he can control. The Government and that which preceded it have facilitated a process whereby the lack of employment regulation in Ireland has facilitated a European-wide situation whereby Ryanair bases in France and Denmark have been shut down and people have been employed on Irish contracts - bogus self-employment Irish contracts. We have a responsibility to that end. We have a responsibility in the context of the European Court of Justice ruling that Ryanair is going to appeal. What I want to know, in the interest of decent workers rights and safe pilot conditions, is what the Government is doing in order to protect that scenario?

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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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.

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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I will take Deputy Barry's question first. I will meet the Irish Airline Pilots Association. I would be delighted to meet the pilots. I will discuss all issues which arise as a result of this situation. It would be perfectly fair to do that. I met the pilots already but not in recent weeks. We had a meeting that was extremely enlightening and interesting. We agreed to meet again. I will meet them and discuss any issues they think are relevant. We may not agree but I think it would be a useful exchange.

Obviously, I cannot intervene in issues that are before the European Court of Justice or that are being appealed to it. I do not wish to address that issue here as it would be inappropriate to do so. In the circumstances, I do not really want to say anything about the absence of trade unions in Ryanair but I have been in touch with Michael O'Leary in the past week and I will be in touch with him again this week. I expressed the views of the Government and the views of the travelling public that the events of last week should have been foreseen, that we could not understand why they were not foreseen and that what happened was unacceptable. My Department has been in touch with the Commission on Aviation Regulation and the IAA to ensure that Ryanair is complying with every necessary rule and regulation and that it is compensating passengers accordingly. Those organisations are satisfied that this is being done down to the last cent.

If the Deputies wish, I will report back to the House as soon as possible, maybe next week under Priority Questions or Topical Issues. Mr. O'Leary told me that he would get in touch with me again this week, when he has produced what he believes to be a comprehensive solution to the problem. I think he will announce that very shortly. My interest is to ensure that something as unacceptable as this should never happen again and to do so without interfering in the affairs of a private company.