From todays RTE website:
Flynn was not aware of Aer Lingus Belfast plan
Sunday, 19 August 2007 13:00
The industrial relations negotiator who worked with Aer Lingus management and pilots over the company's plans to set up new bases outside the Republic, has said he was unaware of any proposals for Belfast.
Phil Flynn told the pilots' union in a letter that had he known of the plans, he would probably have recommended that pilot concerns about the establishment of the base be dealt with through joint discussions.
IALPA says Mr Flynn's statement vindicates its position that the Belfast base does not come under the terms of the Flynn Report, and undermines Aer Lingus' claims that it does.
The Union is now asking that Aer Lingus reconsiders its offer for talks regarding the staffing of the Belfast base.
Aer Lingus says at the time that Mr Flynn was working on his recommendations, no new bases had been definitively identified.
Since then, the airline says, Belfast was identified as a new base in the spirit of the recommendations of the Flynn Report.
Mr Flynn says he was aware the company was considering future bases in North America, Eastern Europe, Britain and Cork.
But he said the information he received from the company did not include plans for a base in Belfast.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0819/aerlingus.html