Aer Lingus transfer - Please sirs, can we have leadership?

EVEN Defence Minister Willie O’Dea cannot have been surprised to have found himself isolated by his Cabinet colleagues yesterday. After maintaining a steadfast silence, it is unimaginable that the Taoiseach or any of his ministers would now make any statement that might undermine Aer Lingus.

Just like the many Fianna Fáil deputies and councillors primed with indignation and fury who assembled in Shannon on Wednesday, Mr O’Dea can predict the direst consequences should the decision not be reversed.

What neither he nor the Fianna Fáil foot soldiers can do is pretend that this whole fiasco is a surprise. Mr O’Dea’s tears are at least questionable and bring a certain theatrical inevitability to the whole, sorry farce.

The Government has left a vacuum filled by conflicting commercial interests; the people of the mid-west have acted as if they were never party to a mandate for privatisation; Aer Lingus management has acted pre-emptorily by not involving all the company’s shareholders in such a far-reaching decision and by trying to introduce new work practices without discussion. And, as is by now usual, Ryanair has put its own interests foremost, as any aggressive commercial entity would.

It is time for the doublespeak and Pontius Pilot-like hand washing to end. A resolution must be reached quickly, as allowing the frenzy to continue will do as much harm to our image as ending the service will do the mid-west.

There are many lessons to be learnt but the most important is that before any further privatisations, we either reconcile ourselves to the commercial realities or revise the process to allay fears about vital services.

Leadership is needed and it is well past time that those who were elected to lead did so.