Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

It should be borne in mind that when Fianna Fáil was in government, it made the decision to sell 75% of Aer Lingus and Ryanair could have been in a position to own this airline in its entirety. It is always good for Ministers to consult each other. We have had examples in the past of Ministers going on solo runs without reference to the responsibility they had in a collegiate sense.

The issue here is that the State holds a minority stake in this airline. The Government will consider the bid but it has not collectively considered the competition issue raised by the Deputy. We have made it perfectly clear that the Government, in accordance with the negotiations being worked out with the troika on the memorandum of understanding, is giving consideration to a list of State assets to be disposed of, and in the consideration of any such asset being disposed of, the Government will not be forced into any fire sale and will give proper and appropriate consideration to the right timing and the right price in the best interests of the country and the people.

As we meet this morning, I understand the regulatory authorities and the European Commission are meeting on this matter. Their position will be fundamental as far as regulation of this is concerned. The answer to the Deputy's question is that the Government would be concerned in terms of competition, consumer facilities in terms of price, access to the country and all of these things. It is, however, a minority share the Government has and we do not have any veto over this. We have no blocking rights. The details of the offer made by Ryanair have not yet been considered collectively by Government.

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