Mr. Owen Reidy:

I am sure he is looking forward to what I have to say. He infers a sense of naivety but perhaps he does not understand our position. What we are saying is that, in the absence of clarity and in view of the fact that there is a great deal of speculation, some of it informed and some of it outrageous and wild, from various sources, unless tangible guarantees are provided, not words on a page or mere verbal commitments which cannot possibly be entered into, the Government should not even begin to consider the sale of the remaining 25.11%. What Senator Mooney said is ironic and a little bit rich. If I can say so in a respectful manner, the party to which he belongs needs to decide whether it is in favour of the privatisation of commercial semi-State companies. There is no point in a Government selling the family silver - 75% of the company - at a knock-down price of €200 million and then, a decade later, people who were members of that Administration beating their breasts and saying that what is happening now is outrageous. The Senator's party needs to decide. The position of parties, whether they are in government or in opposition, should be clear. We have been clear and we disagree, with respect, with some of our colleagues - I do not want to misquote Captain Cullen here - who thought privatisation would not be as bad as we believed it was going to be. We remain of the view that Aer Lingus could survive as a viable entity in a dynamic commercial semi-State sector. I know that not all of those sitting opposite will agree with what I am saying in this regard but some of them will do so.