daa is deeply disappointed by SIPTU’s unwarranted decision to serve notice of possible industrial action at Dublin and Cork airports on Friday, March 14. Such action is completely unnecessary and will cause significant inconvenience to the travelling public on a Bank Holiday Weekend.

SIPTU claims that it has taken this action in relation to pension arrangements at daa. But it has done so without any meaningful engagement concerning the proposals of the Trustee of the IASS pension scheme, which were only recently clarified, following a protracted three-year process.

The Trustee proposal, combined with last year’s Labour Court recommendation on pension arrangements, provide a clear framework within which a resolution to these complex issues can be achieved.

daa yesterday reaffirmed its conditional offer to invest more than €50 million in up-front payments into a new Defined Contribution Scheme for employee members of the IASS pension scheme, to reflect required changes to that scheme and other pension arrangements. This offer arises from the Labour Court recommendation.

daa also confirmed that it was prepared to discuss how this proposed up front lump contribution might best be distributed, so as to mitigate the benefit cuts proposed by the IASS Trustee.

daa recognises the valid concerns of employee members of the IASS about their pension arrangements and has made a fair and balanced resolution of this issue its key priority. It cannot however undermine its financial stability by responding to unsustainable and unreasonable pension demands by SIPTU that significantly exceed the terms of the Labour Court recommendation.

daa again calls on all parties to re-enter discussions to achieve a sustainable resolution to this matter.