Aer Rianta – Break-up plan to cause chaos

The Government would appear to have merely postponed an industrial relations doomsday for a week, if the Cabinet decides not abandon Minister for Transport Seamus Brennan’s mission to break up Aer Rianta.

Yesterday’s Cabinet meeting deferred a decision for a further week, but Mr Brennan’s zeal to have the relevant legislation passed by the Oireachtas, will ultimately unleash a huge union backlash.

With a major confrontation looming with Aer Rianta unions, Seamus Brennan is likely to get another salvo during the company’s annual general meeting today.

A confirmed and vociferous opponent of the separation of the three airports, chairman Noel Hanlon is unlikely to allow the occasion pass without a major tirade against the minister’s policy, especially as he retires from the post next October.

It is expected that Mr Hanlon’s valedictory speech will be a tirade against the minister, whose plans for an independent terminal at Dublin Airport, he is also totally opposed to.

Mr Hanlon’s opposition to the separation of the facilities was echoed in a confidential letter to the Cabinet yesterday from Mazars, an internationally renowned firm of economic consultants.

Their remit is to respond on behalf of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the Aer Rianta unions to the PricewaterhouseCooper (PWC) business plan prepared for the minister.

As such it was scathing and pointed out what it considered to be a number of serious inadequacies in the Brennan break-up plan.

It claimed the plan did not represent a valid business case for the break-up, did not take account of potentially complicated operational issues on the separation of the three airports, and projections were not prepared in the context of the Government decision to establish all three airports as stand-alone entities.

Basically, the letter which was a holding operation until a full response was made, suggested that the plan from PWC was cut and pasted from other documents.

ICTU had complained that not enough time was given to the unions to respond to the break-up plan because they had a deadline of just two weeks imposed on them by the minister.

The threat to dismantle the ties between the three airports will certainly resurrect the prospect of a crippling strike by Aer Rianta workers, probably supported by their colleagues in CIÉ. Mr Brennan has antagonised the unions on several occasions because of his failure to consult with them and on two occasions Taoiseach Bertie Ahern had to intervene to prevent strikes occurring. The minister’s determination to press ahead with his plans will inevitably lead to serious disruption at some stage for commuters.