Yesterday we debated the introduction of a joint committee to investigate the affairs of the semi-State bodies. Speaking as a Deputy for North County Dublin I am proud to say I represent a constituency which has had very close ties with Aer Lingus since the company's formation. If all the other State companies had operated in the same manner as Aer Lingus there would be no need for the setting up of this committee. Down through the years Aer Lingus have maintained one principle above all others—they shunned the word "subsidy" and operated on a commercial basis. They did not operate on the basis that would seem to be the norm of other semi-State bodies, that is, spending money for the sake of spending it and working on the theory that no Government could allow them go to the wall, in other words, that whichever Government happened to be in power would pay the required subsidy at the end of the year, regardless of what were the losses. As a Deputy for North County Dublin, I am very proud that our national airline has operated on a commercial basis. The need for this Bill confirms the basic principle held by the management and staff of Aer Lingus, that is, that they have no wish to become involved in a situation of going to the Government each year cap-in-hand asking for the subsidisation of losses. It was the airline's wish to operate on a commercial basis that has brought about the necessity for this Bill. However, I regret that the Bill is necessary but I am pleased to support it. No other semi-State body has done more than Aer Lingus either on a national or an international level, for the good name of Ireland. This organisation have done more than any other to preserve the pride of the Irish people in something specifically Irish. I say this because of the wonderful reputation of the airline in relation to courtesy, friendliness, efficiency and so on both at home and abroad.
At a time when the airline is facing difficulties we should be failing in our duty if we did not support them fully. I am glad, however, that they are overcoming the problems but that is something I shall refer to again later. In any case, we have a duty to assist them at this time in their evolution.
The previous speaker referred to the importance of the success of our national airline to his constituency of Clare but in my area of North County Dublin there is hardly a family without a member or a relative working at or near the airport. Indeed, the airline's success can be attributed in large measure to the enthusiasm and the dedication of the people of this area. In saying that I am not in any way belittling people from other areas who have come to work with the airline but the airport was located from the beginning at Collinstown and down through the years the employees have given of their best. In the case of air hostesses, for instance, there was always a readiness to operate a check-in if that was necessary or to assist a passenger after he had left the aircraft if that was considered necessary. It was this spirit that has built up the airline to what it is. That is the spirit that has brought Aer Lingus through the difficult times of the forties and fifties, through the successes of the sixties and which will bring them through the difficulties of today and into the successes of the future.
During the past couple of years Aer Lingus have been experiencing problems. These are attributable to such factors as the economic downturn in the US, the Northern Ireland situation and the high rate of hotel charges and other services. All of these factors have combined to result in a downturn in tourism generally. Here, I must emphasise that these problems were created for Aer Lingus and not by them. There is a peculiarly Irish characteristic of knocking anything Irish, of not giving credit where credit is due. In this context there has been some criticism of Aer Lingus and their operations during the past couple of years. It was said that they prevented charter planes from bringing thousands of tourists from the US. There was much bleating from some hotels to the effect that Aer Lingus were preventing tourists coming into the country. All of this criticism was ill-informed and misdirected. Had it not been for the airline's operations in the first place and for the massive amount of advertising carried out by them down through the years in the US and on the Continent in their efforts to sell the idea of holidays in Ireland, many of these hotels would not have come into existence in the first place. These are the hotels that speak now of mythical thousands of tourists that, according to them, have been prevented from coming here. Instead, these hoteliers and others who offer such criticism should be loud in their praise of Aer Lingus for what they have done to create an interest abroad in Ireland.
Aer Lingus are co-operating with other IATA lines to provide sufficient seats across the Atlantic for those tourists anxious to make that journey. It has been said that if Aer Lingus had allowed the principal charters to come in our tourist figures would have been much greater. There are plenty of charters coming in here. All Aer Lingus were trying to do was to regulate for the benefit of the Irish tourist trade and for the country generally and to put some order into the charter industry as it was operating across the Atlantic. If the situation had been allowed to continue at its level of a few years ago, the whole scheduled service across the Atlantic would have been abolished because they could not have remained in competition with the charters. What does the scheduled service mean? It means that we as a nation have access to the American continent for business on a regular basis. Surely it is important for our industrialists and salesmen to know that they have such a service available and vice versa for the industrialists coming in here. Without this scheduled service this country, which is trying to build up its industrial base would have been in a serious situation. I hope the Minister will nail once and for all this lie that Aer Lingus, by their restrictions on the illegal charter operators across the Atlantic, are in some way damaging the Irish national interest.
Again, when the battle over landing rights for the American airlines was being fought here, we heard the story that if only TWA and Pan-Am could come in here they would spend millions of pounds in America and around the world advertising the attractions of Ireland, that there would be full flights, and if only they could have one landing a day, after a couple of years they would be bringing in two or three planes every day due to the amount of advertising they intended to do in America. What are the facts? They have spent nothing like the sums of money they were talking about spending on advertising Ireland. TWA eventually got the landing rights. All they are doing is creaming off business which Aer Lingus themselves have already generated through their own advertising campaigns in the States. I am not saying that TWA have not done some advertising, but they have done very little compared with the wild promises made by the American operators when they were making their case for landing rights here. They have merely exacerbated an already difficult situation and created great problems for Aer Lingus. Therefore, I would ask that the message should go out loud and clear from this House—and I hope the Minister will re-echo it—that TWA should fulfil the promises they made on advertising, that they should generate extra traffic and not be taking the traffic that is already on the Atlantic away from our national carrier.
Aer Lingus, in their usual manner, are fighting back. This year we have seen significant if not dramatic improvements in the number of tourists travelling with Aer Lingus across the Atlantic. The very success they achieved this year brought certain criticism with it because, anticipating a certain number of tourists, they had leased out their Jumbo to another airline. Due to their advertising campaign and the promotion work they did during the year, they attracted extra tourists. Unfortunately, they had to charter a Jumbo from Alitalia. As I say, through their own efforts, the goodwill they built up, the excellent service they were providing for the tourists coming across the Atlantic, they increased business beyond reasonable expectations, and there was no justification for the carping criticism from certain sections of the tourist trade. Aer Lingus will survive to fight these knockers, and through the spirit that exists among the staff they will once again, in spite of their critics, prove that they are capable of holding their own across the Atlantic and in Europe.
The scheduled services provided by Aer Lingus to Europe are equally important to our industrialists, crossing to Brussels, to the centre of the political and industrial areas in the mainland of Europe. Without Aer Lingus we would be depending on somebody else to provide this vital link with Europe. I think it is only right I mention also the attitude of the British airline and airport authorities. Aer Lingus built up a service, Dublin-Manchester-Amsterdam, Dublin-Manchester-Brussels. The very success of their efforts resulted in their losing landing and pick-up rights in Manchester. When Aer Lingus build up a market Big Brother across the Irish Sea looks for that market. The envy with which the British airways and others looked at the success of the Irish airline is a tribute in itself to the service being given by Aer Lingus.
Aer Lingus also, in the last few years, recognising the problems they were facing and about to face, engaged in ancillary activities such as training. This is again a tribute to the service the staff have given at international level down through the years. Aer Lingus have one of the finest training services of any airline in the world. Every year they bring in for training as pilots, hostesses and mechanics, people from Siam, Singapore, the Bahamas and many other places. This is a substantial source of revenue not only directly to Aer Lingus but also to this country, because the people who come in have to stay in hotels or are living with families. If Aer Lingus were not providing such a high standard of service other airlines would not have their personnel trained by them. The greatest tribute that can be paid to any company is to have their services recognised by their competitors to the extent that they send their staff to that company to be trained. Aer Lingus have also diversified by entering the hotel business and leasing planes, and have done very well in both.
In his speech the Minister referred to pay restraint. I can understand his reason for doing this. If the workers of a company are working hard and, as a result, generating profits, they are entitled to a fair share of the profit. My view is that the staff of Aer Lingus are entitled to a fair share of the profit. As this is a sensitive subject, which is under ballot by the staff of Aer Lingus at present, I do not wish to go into it in any great detail, but any group of workers who generate wealth are entitled to a fair percentage of it.
