Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

It does not matter. In terms of the balance sheet and the airline's viability it is a misnomer to suggest that somehow a leasing arrangement in terms of the financial base effect is fundamentally different to purchasing. It is not. My advice is that it is almost the same effect, so the argument is spurious. Airlines will make decisions on a ratio of purchasing to leasing aircraft for different reasons, but not for the one which the Deputy suggested. I am not making that point in an argumentative way, just stating that those are the facts as I understand them.

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