Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

The taxpayer spends billions in supporting the so-called enterprise and employment sector in this country. It appears to me from the Taoiseach's response that the Government is well disposed towards selling off the remaining public control of Aer Lingus. This means that very shortly thousands of jobs not only in north Dublin but in Cork, Limerick and the Shannon area will be jeopardised.

I am not sure if the Taoiseach read the article by the economist Paul Sweeney last Friday in which he made an excellent case not only for the retention of the State's 25% shareholding in Aer Lingus but for the Government to seek to buy, for example, Ryanair's shares, which will most likely become available soon. The case was extremely well made that the Government should snap those up. How is regional development to be protected if a private company controls Aer Lingus? As it stands, any scale-down of operations in, for example, Cork Airport would have a devastating impact. Owing to the recession and the withdrawal of the Shannon stopovers, Limerick is on its knees. There are huge issues at stake.

It is a pity there is no member of the Labour Party in the House to hear this debate.

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