Galway Airport staff stage sit-in

Staff at Galway Airport are staging a sit-in protest until they receive assurances they will be paid their statutory redundancy entitlements.

Most of the airport’s 61-strong workforce were let go before Christmas following Aer Arann’s decision to withdraw its flights for the winter.

The regional airline had been the sole scheduled flight passenger operator at the Carnmore airport.

Since Christmas a group of 14 remaining employees have been operating the airport which continues to be used by a number of private planes.

Last month, however, Bank of Ireland withdrew €1.1 million from the bank account of the company which operates the airport to set it off against the company’s loans.

As a result, the company told the employees today that it was unable to guarantee money would be available for redundancy payments.

Spokesman Seán Adair said the staff had informed management of their decision to stage a sit-in until the situation is resolved.

The airport will continue to operate as normal while the protest is ongoing, he added.