Aer Lingus redundancy - Taxpayer to bear brunt of largesse

THE Aer Lingus offer of at least nine weeks pay for each year of service to every worker who voluntarily agrees to leave the airline is tantamount to taking money out of the taxpayer’s pocket.

Compared with severance deals on offer to workers in the private sector, it represents an extremely generous pay-off.

Like it or not, the beleaguered taxpayer is once again being asked to bail out a semi-State company.