Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is a good question. It certainly was not Sinn Féin. We have heard many assurances, which could have been photocopied from those we were given about the National Asset Management Agency, NAMA, and Irish Water when they were being set up. This quite patently is the wrong deal for Ireland and we know that the Labour Party knows it but it does not have the courage to act on that knowledge. My colleague, Louise O’Reilly, who will be the Sinn Féin general election candidate for Dublin Fingal, has resurrected a statement by Deputy Stagg in 2006. When addressing the Fianna Fáil Minister for Transport at the time, he asked if the Minister was aware that the Labour Party had taken a very firm decision on the matter of privatisation, particularly in regard to Aer Lingus, and that it would not involve itself in any future Government which would advance such a policy. That is one of those statements one makes before elections.

Aer Lingus is certainly worth infinitely more to Ireland than the €335 million this Government will get for cashing in the 25% that Fianna Fáil left the State with after its calamitous reign. Thanks to Fine Gael’s desire to sell off State assets at all costs Aer Lingus is facing into an uncertain seven years, which very possibly will be its last seven years, certainly as we know it. It will also be a very uncertain time for the thousands of workers who make their living as part of Aer Lingus or peripheral to Aer Lingus’ operations in Ireland. The Government says it has assurances from IAG that it will not sell the slots, which was a major concern due to their strategic importance to the company. It claims to have got a commitment that the Aer Lingus slots will remain under the company’s control for seven years. Do we really believe it is possible for this State to hold a major multinational conglomerate to agreements for seven years? IAG is a private profit operation with only two interests, its bottom line and shareholders, of which Ireland is not one. It does not care about the interests of Ireland, its people or the workers who make up the almost 4,000 employees of Aer Lingus. What hope have Cork, Shannon or other regional airports in that environment?

The deferred members of the IASS, who worked for Aer Lingus, are being forced to take a 40% cut in their pension entitlements, facilitated by legislation. What hope do they now have of a fair resolution? This is a bad deal for Ireland, Aer Lingus and its workers. It will usher in seven years of uncertainty and struggle. It would be seven years of industrial strife and hardship for workers who will be left on the scrap heap. In seven years’ time we will be left an island dependent on the crumbs of a major multinational to provide the crucial connectivity we have come to depend on. The day will come when the Labour Party will see the cost of its cowardice just as Fianna Fáil must surely see the end result of its own rush to privatisation. The message is very clear: Fine Gael, the Labour Party and Fianna Fáil cannot be trusted in government with decisions such as these. We call on the Government, even at this stage, to reverse this decision, to pull back, take stock, listen and take on board all the different reports that are available to make an educated decision and to listen to that man in the west of Ireland who used to work for Eircom who said “Don’t do it again because it was a disaster when ye did it with Eircom”.