Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

He knows that the irony is that the same Willie Walsh and British Airways are likely to get control of Aer Lingus and are likely to convert it into a budget airline that will be a low cost feeder to Heathrow and serve overall BA strategic interests. If the Shannon stopover has been a problem, the Taoiseach can imagine the problem that will arise when businessmen travelling here from the United States and elsewhere have to stop off in Heathrow. This is a critical national decision driven only by ideology. If the Taoiseach sells off control of the national airline, he will see it being asset stripped and this country, as an island nation dependent on these critical trade routes with the rest of the world, will be exposed and vulnerable and will suffer as a result.

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