Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will have to end here on this topic because there is loads more I want to get to. Rebuilding is fine, but the fact is that the winding-down happened in Ireland, the winding-up happened in the UK and it was Irish taxpayers' money that was used to support the Aer Lingus wage bill. I would like to see this matter analysed better by the Committee of Public Accounts.

Has Aer Lingus looked at the realm of new aviation such as drones and electric vertical take-off and landing, eVTOL, aircraft? United Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Iberojet, Japan Airlines and GOL have all gone into this realm. There is a huge opportunity for Aer Lingus, particularly in the mid-west where Google is investing in the Future Mobility Campus through Wing. Representatives of Sprite, which is also involved in the region, were in the Dáil last week. Some major global companies are coming in there. No airline has yet partnered there, so there is a huge opportunity. Is it a space Aer Lingus is looking at?