Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

As the Deputy and his colleagues will be aware, almost every plan for Aer Lingus over the past decade and beyond have been crisis plans. This is the first time we had an opportunity to position the company for growth and development. The Deputy is correct because if Aer Lingus was in crisis, there would not be much point approaching anyone as nobody would be interested in it. We must take account of the fact that the company is currently in a very good state, the markets are in a good position and there is a strong management team in place.

Aer Lingus must compete in the aviation sector which is probably one of the most volatile business sectors worldwide. As it is a hugely cyclical market, I have no doubt that the ups and downs for the company will continue. In a downward trend, it would be impossible for this or any Government to invest in Aer Lingus. Therefore, we must give the company the commercial freedom and the mandate to develop and be flexible enough in a true commercial sense to compete in one of the most cut-throat commercial sectors of industry worldwide. All the international evidence suggests that the only way this can happen is by allowing a company to be free of the state and to be operable in a highly commercial environment in the most flexible and commercial way possible.

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