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

I have discussed some matters with Ryanair in the past week or two but I have not discussed this issue. It has made its position very clear. That may change but its position as of now is that it will oppose it. It thinks that the contribution being asked of the company and, indirectly, of the shareholders is too great. The Deputy will be aware that a vote took place some weeks ago on the CEO's remuneration package which was voted through, predominantly with the help of Ryanair. The Government was on the other side of that vote with notice to the staff, so it is something that needs to be taken account of in this dispute. Aer Lingus takes the view and believes it has legal advice to the effect that it is under no obligation to close the deficit or even necessarily contribute to it. That will be a difficult vote. It is not the only hump we need to get over but the role I play as Minister and shareholder is to try to assist all the different parties to come to a solution. The difficulty is there are many different parties involved in this dispute and they all think they are the only ones but they are not. It will require agreement across the board to get this through.

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