Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

This is what gives politics a bad name. These people stood up in the west and the mid-west as proud as punch to represent their people. Today they stand behind the Minister for Transport and the Marine, Deputy Noel Dempsey. This is not acceptable. Government exists to do its duty.

I quote a former distinguished Member of this House, founder of the Progressive Democrats Party, Desmond O'Malley, who stated in a letter to The Irish Times:

I spent a good part of my political career seeking to encourage inward manufacturing investment. I had some success. . . .

The termination of services from Shannon to Heathrow will have its greatest effect in making it much more difficult to attract that kind of investment in the future. Apart from the loss of existing jobs, thousands of jobs that might have been created will not materialise. It will be impossible to quantify what might have happened. As a result, those who cause this situation will claim that they are not toblame. . . .

The Minister for Transport, among others, is espousing a version of company law with which I am not familiar. He seems to think that management is supreme, to the exclusion of all others. The Companies Acts envisage the board of directors as responsible for the actions of a company. The board in turn is answerable to the shareholders. The shareholders have the ultimate sanction of dismissing the board if they disagree with the company's policy.

Why retain a blocking minority if it is not going to be used to stop the very sort of thing that we were told it was kept for in the first place? President Sarkozy retained for the French state a blocking minority of shares in the recent merger of Suez and Gaz de France. Does anyone think he would refuse to use it in a similar situation to this?

I could not put it any better than the founder of the Progressive Democrats Party. I wonder how that party intends to vote today.

We were told that the Minister could use the word "lie" in the House. Was the statement of a former Minister a lie — I will not name the former Minister because I would not be allowed to use the word "lie" — when he stated that Heathrow Airport serves a unique role in ensuring connectivity to and from Ireland; that this connectivity is fundamental both to provide connections to and from Dublin as well as to and from the regions; and, that this is the reason for the mechanism providing for a possible consideration of slot disposals by extraordinary general meeting as set out in the articles of association of Aer Lingus Group plc.? The former Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Cullen, said in the Dáil that the Government would retain a minimum stake of 25.1% in the company to protect the State's key strategic interests and to protect sufficient services between State airports and Heathrow to allow passengers connect through the course of the day with key long-haul destination flights to and from Heathrow. We want no less than that. We do not want any other kites flown regarding other airlines or other possibilities. We want to maintain the Shannon to Heathrow connection that the Government promised when it was privatising the airline. Assurances were given at that time that this was the reason a minimum stake of 25.1% was being retained by the State. The Government has reneged on that promise.

The Labour Party rightly opposed the privatisation of Aer Lingus. The chickens have come home to roost in that regard. Within less than a week of the announcement during the bank holiday weekend, the Labour Party tabled a motion in the Dáil on 13 August calling for the reversal of the decision and for the Government to take whatever action was necessary. Our leader, Deputy Eamon Gilmore, went to Shannon and met various groups shortly after taking up his position. A point made by him at that time was that if that decision had been made before the election, we could have been quite sure it would have been reversed. He is absolutely correct. Now they are hiding behind Deputy Dempsey as Minister. I hope the electorate in Clare, Limerick and other areas in the mid-west will learn a lesson from this and will not vote in large numbers for these people given what they have done.

I appeal to Members to support us and to collectively stand for the people of their regions to ensure connectivity is maintained. I will name those involved: Minister for Defence, Deputy O'Dea; Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Ó Cuív; Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Killeen; Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Hoctor; Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Michael Kitt; and, Deputies Peter Power, Dooley, Collins, Cregan, Grealish, Fahey, Treacy, Michael McGrath, Mansergh, Lowry, McEllistrim and Healy-Rae. Their collective voice could have been used to persuade the Government to ensure the decision was reversed. They did not do so.

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