Former management cleared in review

NO ADVERSE findings were made against the former senior management of Aer Lingus in the review conducted by external advisers into the controversial so-called “leave and return” redundancy scheme from late 2008, which has cost the airline €30.2 million.

The Irish Timeshas learned that this was one of the key findings from a review carried out by law firm McCann & Fitzgerald and consultants Deloitte.

Former chief executive Dermot Mannion, ex-finance chief Sean Coyle and former head of human resources Liz White were among those interviewed about the scheme for the review, which is believed to have been presented to the board in recent weeks.

Aer Lingus yesterday said the findings and recommendations had been accepted by the board and “largely” implemented.

It said the findings and recommendations were confidential and would not be disclosed.

In addition, it would not be making the report available to shareholders.

This is likely to irk some shareholders.

Ryanair pressed Aer Lingus on this matter at the company’s AGM this year. One shareholder, who asked not to be identified, said yesterday that they would be writing to the airline immediately seeking a copy of this report.

When asked at a press conference yesterday if shareholders were not entitled to know the findings of the review, Aer Lingus chief executive Christoph Mueller said: “Might be, yeah.” He elaborated by saying: “We have a board decision that is averse to that request.” When pressed about the request from some shareholders for the report to be made available to them, Mr Mueller said: “That file is closed now.”

Under the scheme the 715 staff involved received redundancy payments but returned to work at the airline several weeks later but on inferior terms and conditions.

Questions were raised over whether the scheme represented genuine redundancies, which would have allowed the company to reclaim a rebate from the State of several million euro while staff would have received favourable tax treatment of their lump sums.

The deal between Aer Lingus and Siptu emerged following engagement at the Labour Relations Commission and the National Implementation Body.

It is not clear what the findings were in relation to the roles played by the Department of Enterprise, its then minister Mary Coughlan, and the National Implementation Body in the scheme.