The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, has said the future of Aer Rianta will be one of the big issues to be discussed in high-level talks, beginning today, on a new national pay deal, write Arthur Beesley & Chris Dooley.
With the Irish Congress of Trade Unions claiming only last week that the case for splitting Aer Rianta had not been made, Mr Ahern said the future of the company was a bigger issue for the unions than decentralisation.
He was speaking after he pledged to establish a separate application stream for Dublin-based jobs in the civil service for officials who do not wish to take part in decentralisation. Mr Ahern denied it represented a climbdown.
"What I'm saying today is that people who want to stay; they may not be in their same departments or agencies, but they'll stay in the system, and we will do that in an organised, regulated way."
He recognised the importance of the Aer Rianta issue for the trade unions.
"It's a far more testing issue with the trade unions, and it's very important that we try to get an agreement. That is why the social partners pulled out of the pay talks. That was over the Aer Rianta issue.
"We have to get an agreement with the trade unions on this issue, and that's why we delayed it, to get agreement with them.
"We're determined to get agreement with them. I think we're close to that. My bottom line on this is that Aer Rianta stays within the State. I'm against the privatisation of Aer Rianta."
While consultants to the trade unions have questioned the financial aspects of Mr Brennan's plan, Mr Ahern said the central issue of concern was the protection of State jobs in the company.
"In my view the solution to that is that whatever the structure is, it stays a State company, and then they are protected.
"I am against any agreement that allows for selling off part of the national airports."
Mr Ahern said he was at ease with the proposal to establish three independent airport companies in Dublin, Shannon and Cork, and said the Government was very close to finalising the plan.
The talks at Government Buildings come as the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, prepares revisions to his plan to break up the State airports monopoly which he will put to the Cabinet next Tuesday, immediately after the European and local elections.
Mr Brennan is understood to be seeking time in the Dáil next week to discuss the legislation as officials work to modify the plan in the light of objections raised a fortnight ago by the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy.
The pay talks will be the first serious engagement between unions, employers and the Government on a new national pay deal. A deal would set pay rates for the second 18 months of the three-year Sustaining Progress partnership programme, which came into effect early last year.
The intention is to continue discussions daily, through the weekend, in the hope of finalising an agreement by Thursday week. Mr Ahern is due to leave that day for an EU summit in Brussels, followed by a further series of foreign engagements.
He will not be a direct participant in the talks, but his involvement is almost certain to be required as negotiations near a conclusion.
There is currently a wide gap between the sides, and the opening round this afternoon is likely to focus on unions' demands for an increase in the minimum wage and a flat-rate pay rise of at least €20 a week for those on lower pay.
IBEC, the main employers' body, says the focus should be on retaining jobs by maintaining competitiveness. It has declined to specify a possible pay increase, but will want to keep the outcome close to the current inflation rate of 1.4 per cent. Unions have also refused to talk figures in public, but are expected to seek a repeat of the 7 per cent rise agreed for the first 18 months of Sustaining Progress.