Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

I would be grateful if the Leader would address the issue of what is happening to our national airline, Aer Lingus. Media reports in recent days suggest there will be a change of uniform into some type of Wal-Mart type down-sizing, but more importantly there is some suggestion that the name, Aer Lingus, will be dropped. The question arises as to where this is going and if Mr. Walsh has any accountability to the public. I appreciate the difficulties Aer Lingus has had but during the past three years it has been a profitable airline. Due to the recent emphasis on on-line booking the logo has now been changed and the shamrock has been downgraded. One rarely sees the shamrock. The company is called aerlingus.com and on all of the aircraft the shamrock has been relegated. Now there is talk of changing the name of Aer Lingus. This is part of what might be termed the underbelly of globalisation by which we will find ourselves subsumed under some sort of internationalism.

People fought and died for the right to call themselves Irish. It may sound like a cliché today when the trend is to forget those events but people have real pride. The Football Association of Ireland has now changed its logo and removed the shamrock despite protestations to the contrary. It would take something akin to the "Da Vinci code" to figure out exactly where is the shamrock. Will the Leader respond to these concerns about the direction Aer Lingus is taking as the national carrier which has proudly flown the flag for Ireland? Wherever one goes in the world people relate to the shamrock and to Aer Lingus as the national airline. I am very concerned about the way it is going and I hope Mr. Walsh might inform the public why he feels it necessary to take these steps.