Mr. Stephen Kavanagh:

I will address our pre and post strategy. We are not invalidating our current strategy. The issue is the balance of opportunity, which will be increased, and risk, which will decrease. That balance of opportunity and risk determines investment. Both parties have a common view as to the level of the opportunity but our capacity to exploit that opportunity is reduced independently than it would be as part of IAG. That is the just the reality of the position. The committee should not take the view that we do not believe that we have a robust business that is capable of generating returns for shareholders and stakeholders. That is not the stated position. We are encouraged by the level of increased opportunity, which will generate incremental jobs. That is an inevitability and they will be more sustainable as a result because they will be built on stronger foundations. They will be high end, direct jobs ranging from pilots and cabin crew to engineers. They will not just be incremental as there will be more promotion opportunities for colleagues are working in the enterprise.

Aer Lingus can realistically survive. It has realistically survived thus far, although it is more challenged than ever because of the global nature of competition. We serve the island and if we can continue to have that mindset, we will be increasingly vulnerable because that is a constrained market in terms of opportunity. The opportunity for us is to compete and bring to the Europe-north America marketplace what we have been successfully doing for the Irish consumer and for those wishing to visit Ireland for the past 80 years. That it the challenge. The risk appetite is stopping us, and not just our personal risk appetite as we have to generate a return on other people's capital. That return is more difficult to generate than the alternative within IAG but it does not preclude that investment. It is then about the pace of that investment and, ultimately, the sustainability of that investment.

We are comfortable that we can get beyond 2%. On a report in terms of competitive standings in Europe, one will go a long way before one will find 2% and, therefore, in many ways we are not relevant. Once one becomes relevant, one becomes open to competition and to the challenges of what the large consolidated global carriers can do and that leaves us vulnerable. It is a challenge we are up to. We will continue to manage the costs in our business and to invest in the product but, undoubtedly, it is an additional challenge. All this is simply a way of saying that the opportunity that the IAG proposal brings will be accelerated but also more sustainable growth. The greatest protection any slot can have is sustainable profitability of the service provider that utilises it. It is as simple as that. We operate in the market. The slots, as they are currently deployed, make a contribution. Aer Lingus's primary role is to connect Ireland to the world. Connecting Ireland to London is central to our product offering. We are going nowhere on Cork, Shannon and Dublin to Heathrow Airport, but continued investment and competition is the greatest guarantee. The capability of having One World partners and IAG partners selling those routes gives us added confidence that their sustainability can be only improved in that scenario.