Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Government's shareholding in Aer Lingus was one of the assets included in the State assets disposal programme approved by Government in 2012, for which I am responsible.  Accordingly, my Department is represented on the interdepartmental steering group which is currently examining the issues arising from the recent approaches to Aer Lingus by IAG.  

The steering group is chaired by the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, as the Department with policy responsibility for the sector, and also includes the Department of Finance, whose Minister holds the Government's shareholding in Aer Lingus for specific reasons, and NewERA. They are making a full evaluation of the proposals and those proposals will come to Government in due course.

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