Don’t let Aer Lingus be another Greencore

Aer Lingus is part of our family silverware. It gives us independence and guarantees control over our key air connections, from airports all over Ireland and Britain.

It behoves the Government to retain control of Aer Lingus, through its shareholding and as protector of the interests of its citizens. We are dependent on exports, and Aer Lingus, with its famous green shamrock emblem on the tailpiece of its planes, is about the only international symbol we have left. The prestige that carries, the confidence it inspires, and the part it plays in marketing and tourism are incalculable.

Does the Government ever learn? Where is Ireland’s greatest-ever State enterprise, the Irish Sugar Company? It had factories and outlets nationwide, employing thousands.

The Government relinquished its shareholding, allowing it to be privatised through Greencore. It was divested of its industries and closed down, creating drastic unemployment. Greencore’s only Irish assets now are a reduced Dublin office and valuable land banks where once stood its thriving factories.

The company operations are based in the UK and US, where they are reputed to be the biggest sandwich-makers in the world!

James Gleeson

Thurles

Co.Tipperary