Tom Morrissey (Progressive Democrats)

This is what the unions were prepared to do. It was not to be at a price less than the price for that job in Dublin Airport today — it was at the same price for that job — there was no race to the bottom as we often hear. However, the price to be requested was greater efficiency. I will give an example of such efficiency. Dublin Airport has 140 check-in desks. Some 20 of them, 17%, are operated by Ryanair. However, Ryanair processes 33% of the passengers through Dublin Airport. That is called efficiency and is reflected in its profit figures as cited by Senator Wilson.

When one considers how far we need to travel in the aviation sector one must realise that despite the pain endured at Dublin Airport in recent years, Ryanair has 2,500 staff carrying 28 million passengers. Aer Lingus has 3,500 staff carrying 7 million passengers, which is a quarter of the number carried by Ryanair. Is the Labour Party really suggesting the Government should invest in that model, which is obviously not efficient——