Aer Lingus deal vows ‘could be unpicked’

Claims by the man leading the €1.36bn bid to buy Aer Lingus that his “smart lawyers” will take care of pledges to keep Heathrow slots open have been used against him by opponents of the sale.

TDs and trade unions warned that IAG chief Willie Walsh’s lawyers were probably so “smart” they could unpick any agreement on the lucrative routes in the future if it suited the multi-national.

As Mr Walsh launched a media offensive to try and salvage the takeover bid, he moved to attempt to win back political support by appearing before the Oireachtas transport committee, insisting the deal would be good for Ireland, and the Heathrow slots would be safe for five years under a legally- binding deal.

“We are prepared to give these guarantees in a way that they cannot be challenged. In other words they will be legally binding, I have heard people say they are not worth the paper they are written on. I can assure you that we have smart lawyers,” Mr Walsh told the transport committee.

The tone of the remarks drew fire from Fianna Fáil transport spokesperson Timmy Dooley, who warned the same lawyers could unpick the deal later.

“When you say that you have smart lawyers preparing this that concerns me greatly, because they are your lawyers, they are IAG lawyers,” the Clare TD said.

Impact’s national secretary, Matt Staunton, also poured scorn on the guarantees being offered.

“I was not convinced at all about what he said on the slots. He effectively said he can get clever lawyers to generate something that is cast-iron, I imagine he can equally get clever lawyers to unpick that when the time comes. IAG will always look after IAG first, not Ireland,” Mr Staunton told RTÉ.

The Impact chief also demanded more clarity from Mr Walsh on the scale of job losses in the event of a takeover, after the IAG boss dismissed union claims of up to 1,200 posts as “complete nonsense”.

Mr Walsh said comparisons with major job losses when the British Airways-led group took over Iberia were misleading as the Spanish airline was in a much worse state than Aer Lingus.

“We’ve been very clear on this that there would be some job losses at Aer Lingus in administrative areas that would in effect be duplicated by roles we have elsewhere so we would be looking to reduce some jobs in the head office but the big story is we that would grow the airline,” Mr Walsh said.

The former Aer Lingus chief said that the airline faced an uncertain future if it did not link-up with IAG, as he promised greater investment.

As the Government holds a 25.1% stake in Aer Lingus, the Dáil must vote on any sale of that interest. The IAG chief made concessions on Heathrow routes to Cork and Dublin after meeting with Transport Minister Paschal Donohoe, but the Labour Party remains firmly opposed to a sale in the run-up to the general election.

Mr Staunton said more clarity was needed on the jobs impact of a takeover, stating that Mr Walsh’s talk of extra positions was the same as an existing commitment by Aer lingus. “He confirmed that jobs will be lost. He is very scant on detail,” the union chief said.

Mr Walsh told Oireachtas members that he had never been involved in an attempt to put together a management buy-out for Aer Lingus when he ran the airline.