Madam, – The Government cannot devalue the currency to restore competitiveness, but it can encourage companies to take action to cut wages in Ireland – with little effort made to cut the real cost of living here. If it can be demonstrated that Aer Lingus can get away with “firing” staff then rehiring some of them on worse terms, it will leave the door open to all other employers in Ireland to do the same.
This is not an argument about the rights and wrongs of what Aer Lingus is doing. It is about Government policy and that policy is a race to the bottom with low cost countries who are also competing for foreign investment. Let’s call a spade a spade. – Yours, etc,