A Clare TD has urged the Minister for Transport to intervene in an escalating row between Irish air traffic controllers and their management.
Irish airspace is threatened to be disrupted as a result of the conflict with workers alleging a poor treatment of staff and inadequate cover due to roster changes, claims which have been disputed by management of the Irish Aviation Authority.
Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan (GP) has received a letter from a group of air controllers and elected representatives highlighting the concerns of workers. A lack of air traffic control services caused temporary shutdowns at both Shannon Airport and Cork Airport during the month of July, some of the correspondence has flagged with roster changes enforced “under protest and duress”.
An intervention from Minister Ryan is said to be unlikely while he did order a briefing from the IAA who provided this and refuted allegations from the air traffic controllers.
Last week, the Oireachtas Committee on Transport agreed to a proposal from Senator Timmy Dooley (FF) to write to Minister Ryan requesting the appointment of Kieran Mulvey to assist with “finding a resolution to the very serious issues raised by staff of the aviation authority”.
Deputy Cathal Crowe (FF) who serves as his party’s spokesperson on Aviation and Tourism believed there was scope for an independent mediator to be involved. He said, “The IAA has an internal disputes mechanism called the Internal Dispute Resolution Board and whilst there is always merit to ironing out industrial relation issues through internal mechanisms, the fact that this dispute is now playing out on national papers and is pretty much in the public domain, I think it’s important that there’s some element of political oversight to what is going on”.
“Many industrial relations disputes happen on factory floors but the IAA is quite a different entity in that it’s very specialised work and anybody who takes to the skies depends on their skilled air traffic controllers to get them safely in the air. For this reason, I think it’s important that Minister Ryan and any third party that can help to bring this to a swift end would intervene as quickly as possible. We certainly don’t want a protracted dispute between workers and employers. The IAA is a hugely valued company with a major staff presence in my own constituency of Clare and whilst ordinarily politicians don’t get drawn in on industrial relations disputes, it is important in the public interest that this matter is resolved quickly and in a manner satisfactory to everyone,” the Meelick native added.
