Begun, the wailing and grinding of teeth has, amongst Ireland’s political class. Who the villain is depends on whether you are in Government, or opposition.
If you are in Government, the villain is Aer Lingus, as one Limerick Fine Gael TD took to social media yesterday to assert:
Devastating decision by @AerLingus to close cabin crew base of 81 in @ShannonAirport-this must be reversed
Tánaiste @LeoVaradkar has committed along with Transp Min @EamonRyan to meet with AerLingus
Our Transp cmtte are inviting Aer Lingus to appear before it immediately pic.twitter.com/C7nofJ9spA
— Kieran O’Donnell TD for Limerick City Constituency (@kodonnellLK) May 18, 2021
He was joined by a Fianna Fáil colleague:
Devastating news for @AerLingus workers who, following this afternoon’s announcement, of the airline’s permanent withdrawl from @ShannonAirport after 63 years, face jobs losses This is a hammer blow for Clare & mid-west. Aer Lingus need to reconsider their announcement
— Cathal Crowe T.D. (@CathalCroweTD) May 18, 2021
And another:
Shocking decision by Aer Lingus to close its base at Shannon – this is an attack on a loyal workforce who have served the company well over many years. @ClareFM @ClareChampion @theclareherald @ClareEcho
— Timmy Dooley (@timmydooley) May 18, 2021
The party line for the Government is set in stone: Don’t blame us, guv, it is those horrible people in Aer Lingus, who we have prevented from doing business for over a year.
And if you are in the opposition, then the Government, of course, are to blame. Labour’s Duncan Smyth is mourner in chief for the holier-than-thou side of the Dáil:
With the devastating news breaking in the last few mins of @AerLingus closing their base in Shannon Airport. I requested an emergency debate to take place…..again the Taoiseach and the Government have washed their hands of aviation jobs. This was predicted. @RecovAIRie pic.twitter.com/VLmUqjOHOq
— Duncan Smith TD (@DuncanSmithTD) May 18, 2021
Sinn Fein were out, too: Blame the Government, they say:
Failure to put Shannon Airport recovery plan in place costing aviation jobs – @WynneTd
“The Minister for Transport must engage with Aer Lingus immediately to try and reverse the base closures and save as many jobs as possible."https://t.co/iibGMSRp75 pic.twitter.com/yZ82fk3gMg
— Sinn Féin (@sinnfeinireland) May 18, 2021
All of this should sicken a half-intelligent voter beyond words. Shannon Airport has effectively been closed by Irish politicians. Not Government, not Opposition – both of them. At the urging of the opposition, Ireland’s Government has inflicted the longest and most severe lockdown in Europe. At the urging of the opposition, the Government implemented mandatory quarantine. At the urging of the opposition, it has delayed re-opening, bowed to the various nutcasery of the zero-covid crowd, and made it impossible for airlines to cope, financially.
Last night, hundreds of thousands of Irish people tuned into the Eurovision. They will have seen, in Amsterdam, a European City, a large scale indoor event, with no social distancing, and no facemasks, held in a country where there are no travel restrictions.
Why is it that such things can happen safely in Amsterdam, but not in Dublin, or Limerick, or Cork? We in Ireland cannot even eat in a restaurant, while the Dutch can have thousands from all over Europe visit their city for Eurovision.
The shutdown of Aer Lingus at Shannon is not the fault of Aer Lingus, primarily. It is not the fault of their staff.
It is the fault of Irish politicians, who have inflicted insanity on the country for months. It is the fault of a media which has not challenged that insanity, too.
Indeed, on the very day that the announcement came, these same politicians – Government and Oppositon – joined together to vote to extend the lockdown powers again.
Their hypocrisy is nauseating. Voters should be absolutely livid. If voters are not livid about this, then they are not doing their job in a democracy, which is to hold those who govern us to account. And when voters fail to do that, bad things happen. And will continue to happen.
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