UK probe into €200 million Dublin loan to Aer Lingus; concerns loan may be in breach of competition rules

A letter from Minister for Europe and North America James Cleverly sent to DUP MP Ian Paisley said the UK will probe whether the €200 million (£170m) loan to the airline broke global trading rules.

Mr Paisley said Irish state financial support for Aer Lingus exposed the double-standards of the Dublin government, which has been warning Britain that any unilateral move to change the Northern Ireland Protocol would breach international law.

The loan was given to Aer Lingus back in March, which Mr Paisley contends gives its base – Dublin Airport – a state-sponsored unfair advantage over Northern Ireland’s two main airports.

In his letter to the North Antrim MP, Mr Cleverly states: “Since Brexit, the UK government has been monitoring EU subsidies to ensure UK businesses are defended from any potential negative impact on competition.

“To this end, we have established a new function to monitor, investigate, and where appropriate challenge EU subsidies that have a distortive effect.”

Mr Cleverly continues: “We have noted your concerns that the €200 million loan to Aer Lingus may be in breach of competition rules, and may have a negative impact on the competitiveness of Northern Ireland’s aviation industry. We will conduct further work to assess this measure against the provisions of the UK-EU Trade and Co-Operative Agreement (TCA).”

Welcoming the government’s investigation, Mr Paisley said it was “appalling” that Belfast International Airport and George Best Belfast City Airport are put at the greatest disadvantage.

He said: “It is designed to take trade away from Northern Ireland and drive it to Dublin. Given that the Dublin government and the EU like to boast that they are the guardians of Northern Ireland and care so much about the place, they have gone out of their way to break their own rules and to undermine fair competition rules. If the boot was on the other foot Dublin would be incandescent with rage and claiming international law has been broken.

“It is the hypocrisy from Dublin and the EU that is most frustrating. This is an aggressive act of commercial war on Northern Ireland businesses and their ability to compete fairly.”

Mr Paisley added: “The government should take steps to assist businesses in Northern Ireland to counteract this unfair advantage that they have been given illegally.”

The Irish Strategic Investment Fund said: “All ISIF investments and loans are made on a commercial basis in line with all applicable laws.”