Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)

I wish to share time with Deputy Martin Ferris, if that is agreeable.

Having been in this House for just over two decades and in the Seanad for almost a decade, I cannot recall a motion quite so weak as the one before us. The opening paragraph of the motion to the effect that Dáil Éireann is called on to share the Government's deep disappointment at the Aer Lingus decision to end the Shannon-London Heathrow service stops just short of asking us to have a weep-in for the destruction being visited on the region. The Minister's speech is seriously contestable in a number of fundamental points of fact on the issue. He cites page 20 of the report of the senior officials:

Disposal of slots relates specifically to the sale of slots and/or the transfer of slots between airlines and does not apply to the reallocation of slot pairs to new or existing bases.

I repeat it is most contestable and is a very limited reading of what is, in fact, in the memorandum and articles of association. The Minister continued:

However, let me be clear, the Government's legal advice is that, having regard to the duties of the Board of Directors pursuant to the Companies Acts and the Memorandum and Articles of Association of Aer Lingus, shareholders do not have the power to overrule management decisions on business matters.

This is a meaningless statement and largely untrue. There is nothing in the Companies Acts that suggests the management has a type of carte blanche that is accountable neither to the board or to shareholders. Contradictions riddle the Minister's speech. He mentions two key objectives of the State's shareholding — providing a major block to a hostile takeover by enabling the State to prevent a compulsory takeover of 100%; and enabling Government to protect the memorandum and articles of association of the company. How can the Minister be protecting the memorandum and articles of association of the company when disposal is defined there as including the transfer of slots?

I want to put a more fundamental case in this regard. These slots are not in the absolute ownership of Aer Lingus. In the debate in the House of Commons in 2003-04 on the reorganisation of services at Heathrow, it was decided that one could not conclude fundamentally that the slots were in the possession of the airlines in question. The basis for my assertion is that the original slots were negotiated at intergovernmental talks.

The same type of retreat from responsibility is contained in the flat negatives in relation to regionalism in the Minister's regional policy. Connectivity is important for the entire economy. This is not a case of the west versus the rest. It is a question of ensuring the equal rights of regions to be developed and even national development. "Connectivity" is described in the memorandum and articles of association. In the case of Dublin Airport, it is described in terms of not exceeding 90 minutes. At the same time the concept of connectivity can be abandoned altogether in respect of another region, or several regions. This affects not just one region.

The Government's Deputies and Ministers are being sent out to mislead people regarding the Government's capacity. The notion that the Government cannot use its shareholding because it might upset a minor shareholder is simply not true. The Government, as the holder of 25% of the shares, is under an obligation regarding its shareholding to protect the brand name, capacity and asset value of the company. If the actions of an unaccountable management damage these, the Government is obliged, under the memorandum and articles of association, and under company law, to protect its shareholding.

The abandonment of regionalism is consistent with the Minister's answer to Question No. 488 of today. He mentions the justification for not spending one red cent on Ceannt Station in the city I represent and in which I get more votes than anybody else. He stated: "Funding for the upgrading of transport facilities of Ceannt Station, Galway has not been included in Transport 21 as I understand that CIE intends to fund the works involved from the proceeds of the development of the overall site". There is not a penny for regional investment in the major hub in the west. This is consistent with the decision on Aer Lingus and the failure to spend the funds in the BMW region. We will hear the windy basis of the Minister's statement about being committed to regional policy.

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