Alan Kelly (Labour)

It is disgraceful that he will not say why he cannot use some of the assets to leverage against the cost-cutting that he wants to put in place and that he has indicated that even with the changes in the fuel prices, he will not change his mind on the volume of redundancies he seeks.

The management at Aer Lingus has done it again. It has acted in this way since the company was privatised. It was the wrong decision. Market forces do not always work. We live on an island. Unfortunately, a price will be paid, especially by the tourism industry. When the cabin staff are gone, the first impression for those arriving in Ireland will be totally different. Unfortunately, the move over the past two days symbolises a bigger one that Aer Lingus is planning, that is, the removal of other slots for commercial reasons from Ireland to probably Britain and the United States.