Minister needs to reveal his ‘solution’ to Aer Lingus and airport dispute
Published on: 28 February 2014
Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on Transport, Tourism and Sport, Timmy Dooley, has called on the Minister for Transport to reveal his solution to the dispute between management and staff and pensioners of Aer Lingus and the state airports.
Deputy Dooley said Minister Varadkar needs to back up his comments made on RTÉ last night that he had a solution to the dispute.
“Last night on the RTÉ Prime Time programme; Minister Varadkar said that if he were in charge of the pension funds in Aer Lingus, the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) and the Shannon Airport Authority (SAA) he would have fixed the dispute a long time ago through a Ministerial order.
“The Minister now needs to outline the details of the solution he has in mind which would form the basis of the ministerial order he talks about. He should then convene a meeting to include the trustees of pension funds, the management of Aer Lingus and the airport authority and representatives of staff and pensioners, with a view to resolving the current impasse and eliminating the threat of strike action.
“The Minister has also accepted that there must be burden-sharing between the companies, workers and pensioners. He must now also outline, on behalf of the Government, as the sole owner of the state airports and as a significant shareholder in Aer Lingus, what the maximum contribution these companies are willing to offer in this burden-sharing process.”