Aer Lingus resignations - Government must act quickly

The resignation announcements by the three most senior executives of Aer Lingus threatens to open a rift between Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats, which could jeopardise the stability of the Government.

There is an obvious lack of trust between the Government and the resigning executives. Having already paid some glowing tributes to the business prowess of the executives in turning around the fortunes of Aer Lingus in the difficult period following the events of September 11, 2001, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern appeared to question that contribution in the Dáil yesterday.

“The level of trust between management and unions is non-existent,” he said. The unions accuse management of claiming all the credit for turning the company around, without giving due credit for the huge contribution made by the staff of the company. Mr Ahern added that the workers are “determined not to yield up savings which they perceive are intended to enrich a management team concerned with its own position rather than the company’s future”.

Mr Ahern has the reputation of being the “most skilful, most devious and most cunning”, to quote the title of his latest biography and the famous assessment of his former mentor and predecessor, Charles Haughey. While Mr Ahern did not accuse the Aer Lingus management team of trying to enrich themselves, he did openly repeat the allegation without making any effort to disassociate himself from it.

His remarks appear to conflict with Tánaiste Mary Harney’s repeated pronouncements on the need for private sector involvement in the economy. She has depicted the Aer Lingus executives as saviours of the company. As a result there seems to be a distinct difference between Ms Harney and Mr Ahern, who recently described himself as a socialist.

Labour leader Pat Rabbitte ridiculed Mr Ahern’s proclaimed socialism as stretching credulity to an extent that has not been witnessed since Comical Ali’s last press conference as Saddam Hussein’s Minister for Information. Of course, the opposition is not going to pass up an opportunity to embarrass the Government.

Nobody should be surprised that politicians play politics, but statesmanship demands that government puts the national interest first, and there must be no room for any suspicion that Mr Ahern is exploiting this issue of national importance for his own electoral gain in his north Dublin constituency.

By openly dismissing the proposed management buyout of Aer Lingus, Mr Ahern recognised that there was an obvious conflict of interest between the fiduciary duty of the managers to the existing owners and their own self-interest as proposed purchasers. The motives of even the most honest businessmen would inevitably become suspect in such circumstances.

Now that there is an obvious lack of Government trust necessary for the current executives to continue to run the company until next May, the Government must - in fairness to the executives, the workers and the public - sort out this problem and appoint replacements to run the company without further delay.

There has been too much procrastination already.