Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I did not hear the Taoiseach refer to the Aer Lingus issue in any of the interviews I read or heard. What progress has been made on bringing Aer Lingus to the stock market? Is it still the Government's determination to do so? Will it come to the market by the summer? Is commentary in the newspapers that the summer deadline has been missed really the case? What size share does the Government intend to retain? What are the problems that have headed off an initial public offering, IPO, by summer?

What are the difficulties in resolving the company's pension issue? What share of the IPO's proceeds will go into the company's pension fund? If the summer cut-off is not made and the various stories in the newspapers' financial pages are true, is it proposed to proceed to the market in autumn? In those circumstances will the Government make the deadline because if the sale passes June, a new set of accounts will have to be produced for an autumn sale?

What is the Government's assessment of the Air Berlin experience? Air Berlin went to the stock market last week but found it had to halve the expected share price with the subsequent reduction in income. In these circumstances, is it the Government's intention to proceed with the sale? It was banking on getting a paltry €400 million for the sale. If the Air Berlin experience is anything to go by, and with rising energy costs and the lack of market sentiment for airline stocks, we stand to get only €250 million. Will the national airline be sold for a mess of pottage as little as €200 million or €300 million? Is the Government reviewing its stance on this issue?

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