Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That analysis is under way and is being done by the NewERA unit on behalf of the Department and the Government. Aer Lingus is a very good company and is very profitable. In fairness to the management and staff, they have made a huge contribution in recent years to turning the company around. It is a company I want to see continue to grow and be successful. To date, the Government's shareholding has largely been passive and Aer Lingus has shrunk its business to become more profitable. A lot of the expansion in which the company is currently engaged is actually outside of Ireland. It is expanding within the United Kingdom and, more recently, between Spain and the United States. If the Government was to take a more active shareholding role, it would want to know what Aer Lingus would do in return for that, in terms of developing its business and reopening connections that existed in the past.

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