Aer Lingus is no longer the national airline and State should sell its stake

AER Lingus’s decision to end its Shannon-Heathrow service is a devastating blow to commerce and tourism in the mid-west. Some would say this is more serious than the ending of the compulsory stopover at Shannon. No one at a high level seems to want to challenge the decision.

Aer Lingus has made a business decision, but they cannot really expect people to regard them as the national carrier anymore.

For the moment, this privilege should go to Aer Arann.

Unions at Aer Lingus gave the impression during the sale of the company, and all through the attempted Ryanair takeover, that they were the people’s champion, minding the family silver, etc. With the exception of the Shannon workers, so far we have only heard token guff from the unions.

Bearing in mind that they have no difficulty shutting down airports and services at short notice when they are in dispute themselves, their silence now seems to suggest they will live with this decision.

The loss of jobs at Shannon is not a big deal for them.

Surely the State should no longer retain its shareholding in Aer Lingus. Would it not be better to sell the rest of ‘our’ company and put the money towards a hospital — or is the public investment still shoring up Dáil seats? In recent times workers in State companies have all received a shareholding in the event of a sell-off. This was seen as a reward for the effort they put into building up the company.

Using this logic, surely these Heathrow slots belong to Aer Lingus passengers in the Shannon catchment area.

Shannon’s loss is Belfast’s gain.

Sean Murtagh

I Cloverhill

Dooradoyle Road

Limerick