The Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys has criticised Aer Lingus for its approach to claiming income supports for workers, who she acknowledged had been left in an "awful" situation due to reductions in their earnings due to the pandemic.
Speaking in the Dáil, the Minister said it was difficult to understand how an organisation the size of Aer Lingus had problems in interpreting the criteria for the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) and the Short Time Work Scheme, when many small businesses around the country had had no such issue.
The Minister was responding to a topical issue from Sinn Féin TDs Darren O'Rourke, Louise O’Reilly and Claire Kerrane regarding the difficulties experienced recently by Aer Lingus staff in