There was concern within Aer Lingus that the proposed management buyout was to make some people wealthy, the Taoiseach claimed. Michael O'Regan reports.
Amid renewed Dáil exchanges relating to the Aer Lingus resignations, Mr Ahern described articles on the issue in the morning newspapers as "badly informed" about what was going on.
"There has been a very difficult industrial relations position," he added. "The workers and the unions are concerned that the very people they were dealing with as management wanted to sell out to make themselves extremely rich. That was the underlying position of the trade union movement to which I have been listening all year."
Mr Ahern was replying to the Labour leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, who had asked if Aer Lingus "will be the biggest casualty of the in-fighting in the Cabinet and between the two parties comprising this coalition".
He claimed that as the Taoiseach sought to reposition Fianna Fáil, the national airline was "left leaderless after the management - whatever one thought of its direction - sought a clear indication from the Government as to the way forward, only to receive mixed signals in response".
Mr Ahern said the level of trust between management and unions was non-existent.
"There is huge resentment that the management team has claimed virtually all the credit for the rescue of Aer Lingus after the events of September 11th, 2001, ignoring the huge effort by union leaders and staff to make the changes work," he added.
"That is what I have been dealing with. They are also determined not to yield up savings which they perceive are intended to enrich a management team concerned with its own position rather than the company's future."
Mr Ahern said the question of why a State-owned airline might make sense in current circumstances had not yet been fully addressed. "The Goldman Sachs report has been with the Government for just about a month. It is obvious that national flag carriers are fewer in number as a result of competition from low-cost carriers and poor management and operations." He said that for an island nation heavily dependent on trade, overseas investment and tourism, there were important strategic issues which must be satisfactorily resolved.
There was evidence of unease in the business community about the reduction in both the nature and quality of the connections, he claimed, adding that he would "not just click my fingers because some right-wing economists believe we should privatise it".
Mr Rabbitte said: "When did the Taoiseach get worried about selling State companies and executives getting fat? He was not very concerned about it when he dismantled Telecom Éireann. Many people got fat, but it was not the ordinary shareholders."
Mr Rabbitte claimed that the Taoiseach was in secret negotiations with a number of Independent deputies to provide protection for when the PDs would be forced out of the Government.
Mr Paddy McHugh (Independent, Galway East) remarked: "Who gave Deputy Rabbitte a mandate to speak for us?"