Mr. Willie Walsh:

That is as much as I can say and it is as much as I am going to say.

There was much debate about whether I was participating in a management buy-out, and I clearly recall my last appearance before the committee in 2004 which coincided with statements by somebody in Dáil Éireann about my intentions, which were untrue. I state categorically yet again that I was never involved in a management buy-out nor was I working with my colleagues to pursue one. We clearly asked the then Minister for Transport for permission to develop an investment proposal for Aer Lingus. No work was done on anything because no permission was ever given. We had withdrawn our request for permission before certain individuals, who I will not name, made references in Dáil Eireann to what we were trying to do. There was never a management buy-out, and there was never anything, because all we did was ask the Minister for Transport if we could start some work on developing an investment proposal, but the Minister never gave us permission and we gave a commitment that we would not do anything unless permission was granted. We then withdrew our request before the issue was finally considered by the Government and subsequently I left Aer Lingus before it was privatised.

With regard to NewERA, I am the chairman of-----