Rebecca Moynihan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming in to address us today. It is not an overstatement to say the growth of the airline and aviation industry in Ireland transformed our fortunes in the 1990s, particularly in regional settings. We are a small island reliant on access to the outside world for our economic well-being and global and social connections.

Covid-19 has put the aviation industry under major pressure. It has surpassed the effect of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, when we thought passenger numbers would collapse. This has come at a time of a perfect storm arising from the challenges of climate change and Brexit. As the industry supports 4,000 jobs directly and 100,000 jobs indirectly, thousands of jobs are at risk as a result of the collapse in passenger numbers.

I will speak a little about workers in the aviation industry and particularly workers in the retail sectors of airports, as I have not heard them included in this debate. My colleague, Deputy Duncan Smith, has supported Estée Lauder workers in Dublin Fingal, where cuts have been made to the workforce and there have been enforced pay cuts and redundancies as a result of what they say is the changing retail environment. These are good quality jobs that have existed in north Dublin and they are now under threat.

If the State is looking to subsidise airports and the aviation industry, that support must be somewhat conditional on ensuring that worker rights will be protected and workers will be able negotiate collectively. Assets should also be protected if workers are being forced to take redundancy, so we should not see a position like that which arose with Debenhams, where workers have been fobbed off with statutory redundancy.