Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

The public's main concern in respect of the proposed sale of a majority holding in Aer Lingus is the threat this poses to the existing services Aer Lingus provides. We recognise we have been lucky with these services, which almost give us direct access to the centre of London through the Heathrow slots. While we can get to Stansted more cheaply, the accessibility of Heathrow to London is important for Irish travellers. Given there are over 20 flights to London every day, accessibility to the city centre is a critical issue.

The Heathrow slots also provide direct access to almost everywhere else in the world through the onward flights Aer Lingus has managed to arrange over many years. In the context of a privatised Aer Lingus, the main concern is that there is no guarantee these services will continue because we cannot ensure Aer Lingus holds onto the slots. Perhaps the new owners will decide it is expedient to sweat their assets and to cash in their chips as quickly as possible. The Heathrow slots would be a valuable sale commodity in that regard.

In the initial stages of the Government announcement of its intention to go ahead with the privatisation of Aer Lingus, the Minister mentioned the notion of a "golden share". He now accepts this is no longer regarded as legal. A spokesperson for Commissioner McCreevy said recently that golden shares have no place in the European Union Internal Market. When the Minister accepted that golden shares would no longer be legal he changed his language and spoke about a "blocking" share. Under existing company law provisions I do not know what strength a blocking share of 25.1% would give the Minister. It would allow him to prevent a 100% takeover, but that is not the issue.

The big danger is that those with a majority holding within Aer Lingus could, at some point in the future, decide to sell the slots or sell the brand and get rid of the shamrock. We do not know what will happen. The point is there is no way of ensuring Irish control of our national airline can be retained. Anything could happen in the future and generally speaking, where venture capitalists are involved, which may be the case, their intention will be to get in, get as much out of the company as quickly as possible and get out. In that context, valuable holdings like the Heathrow slots are in real danger and it has been accepted on all sides of the House that there is no way of safeguarding those.

The Minister's advisers, Goldman Sachs, who advised him on the future of the company when he set down the stipulation that they were to consider anything bar State investment in the company, said partial divestment, as they called it, would only make sense commercially if it was a precursor to full privatisation. Where does the Minister stand now in respect of that advice? Is it his intention to divest himself entirely of the holding in future? If not, will the Minister tell the House how he proposes to retain the 25.1% shareholding in the context of future share issues where it is inevitable——

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