The Workers’ Party has called on the government to block any sale of Aer Lingus and to use its strategic 25% share to ensure that the airline continues to provide vital connectivity between this country and the rest of the world.
Dublin Workers’ Party councillor, Éilis Ryan, said that Aer Lingus was of vital strategic importance to Ireland as an island nation on the periphery of Europe. It had served the country well in its almost 80 years of existence and was too important to be lost.
Cllr. Ryan said that in addition to the thousands of jobs at Aer Lingus there would be a knock-on threat to tens of thousands of jobs in companies servicing Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports if the company were to be sold. The sale would also pose a grievous threat to our tourist industry. Aer Lingus, as a national carrier, was a vital strategic partner in developing that industry and ensuring, through the full utilisation of Cork and Shannon airports, that tourists had easy access to South and West of the country.
“There can be no guarantee that what remains of Aer Lingus will not be liquidated in the event of a buyout by IAG or anyone else. The floatation of Aer Lingus by the Fianna Fáil / PD government in 2006 sabotaged a vital cog in the Irish economy that was central to the social and economic life of the country. To sell-off the remainder would be a national disaster”, said Cllr. Ryan.
“The workers at Aer Lingus have bent over backwards over the past decade and more to bring the airline back to profitability and it has survived and grown where similar airlines have perished. Any commitment from buyers to maintain Aer Lingus can have no credibility. It is patently obvious that the assets of Aer Lingus, including its all-important Heathrow slots, are what is being eyed by the bidders. The government must learn from the previous disastrous privatisations including Eircom and Greencore and move immediately to protect Aer Lingus from a similar fate”, Councillor Ryan stated.