Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

With respect, the Deputy is now trying to change the question, but I have answered the question he asked. When Aer Lingus pulled the services from Shannon, the 25% shareholding was not sufficient for the then Government to change that decision. Therefore the holding of that 25% stake was not strategic because the Government of the day could not do anything to change the decision. The Deputy is now indirectly asking whether the 25% stake allows us to prevent Aer Lingus from disposing of those slots at Heathrow or leasing them to another airline. I am telling him that it does not.

Aer Lingus can lease or sell the Heathrow slots if it wants to, regardless of the Government's minority shareholding. Leasing the slots to another airline, which is normal practice in the aviation industry, does not require a special resolution and therefore the State's shareholding is not sufficient to prevent it. Because of the dissolution of the ESOT, the Government no longer has a blocking minority to block the sale of those slots. In many ways, however, the sale is irrelevant because they could be leased anyway regardless of a special resolution. That is probably something that was not understood or anticipated by the previous Government at the time of privatisation.

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