Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 143: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will refer the decision of Aer Lingus to lay-off all of its cabin crew to the Labour Court to determine whether it constitutes a case of exceptional collective redundancies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13582/10]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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In October 2009 Aer Lingus announced details of a cost savings programme aimed at reducing operating costs by €97million, comprising staff savings of €74 million and non-staff cost savings of €23 million.

Following four months of intense negotiation between Aer Lingus management and Unions, under the auspices of the Labour Relations Commission, the resulting joint agreements were put to Aer Lingus staff with a recommendation for acceptance by each of the respective unions. The results of the ballots were that the plan was accepted by four out of the five unions involved. Cabin crew rejected the plan by a 2:1 majority. Aer Lingus subsequently announced their plans to achieve the necessary cost savings.

As a result of further discussions at the Labour Relations Commission on 19 March, during which clarifications on the cost saving plan were given, cabin crew agreed to ballot again on the restructuring package. The outcome of this ballot was in favour of acceptance of the plan and the company has welcomed the result and announced its intention to work with the Unions to achieve the required productivity targets.

Given the positive outcome negotiated between the company and the Unions representing employees in this instance, recourse to legislation governing exceptional collective redundancies does not arise.

The Government is satisfied, from all of the information available to it, that a major restructuring of the Group's cost base is essential if Aer Lingus is to return to profitability and growth. The cost base of Aer Lingus is seriously out of line with that of its competitors. Airlines throughout the world are either rationalising or going out of business as a result of the global economic downturn.

The Government want to see a strong viable Aer Lingus in the future. The cornerstones of Government aviation policy are competitiveness and connectivity. A viable Aer Lingus is key to ensuring the achievement of these objectives.