Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

The Minister is operating from an ideological position. There is a deeply held view in his Department and in the Cabinet that the State has no business being in business and that it wants to off-load as many of the State's involvements in enterprise as possible. The Minister has still not provided any type of rationale for the proposed sale of Aer Lingus. Will he confirm that there is nothing preventing him under EU law from investing in Aer Lingus as it stands as a profitable company? Will he accept that the reason Aer Lingus has been successful is that it has been a State-owned company, that there has been a remarkable record in recent years of staff and management working together in the interests of the company and that there is no reason that cannot continue into the future?

Will the Minister explain how he will avoid the sale of Aer Lingus becoming "Eircom mark two" given that the adviser to the Government is the same? As taxpayers, we have a successful asset valued at €1 billion. Will the Minister also explain how we will avoid ending up with nothing and without control over our air services?

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