Fergal Browne (Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister of State for a useful explanatory speech on a complex Bill. While I was an enthusiastic advocate of privatisation before I entered the House, I am lukewarm on the issue having witnessed the Eircom debacle. I have reason to be cautious as we are not being provided with a full picture or a master plan. While the contents of the Minister of State's speech are fine in theory, the real test will be the manner in which the privatisation of Aer Lingus is implemented.

The most significant elements of the Bill are the provisions in sections 3 and 7 which deal with the issue of shares. On later Stages, these are the sections on which we will be focusing our attention. It is worth pointing out that more than 500,000 Eircom shareholders saw the stock market value of their shares fall by over a third. When Eircom is refloated later this year, 120 former managers will become instant millionaires. One cannot blame the public for being cynical about privatisation. I hope the Government has learned from events surrounding the Eircom flotation which obviously have huge implications for the privatisation of Aer Lingus. Eircom management shares alone will be worth nearly €245 million and each manager will receive between €2 million and €2.3 million in share offerings. Against that backdrop, we should proceed with caution.

On the other hand, we must examine and learn from the mistakes made by other State-owned airlines such as Sabena and Swissair. These airlines failed to learn from Aer Lingus and are no longer in existence. I was pleased to hear the Minister of State acknowledge in his speech the huge effort made by Aer Lingus employees over the past 12 years, from the Cahill plan to the 2001-2 survival plan which followed the 11 September 2001 tragedies. Those efforts have continued in the current round of PPF talks. The employees have made huge sacrifices from pay freezes to less time off work and they should be recognised for having done so.

Fine Gael has a fine record in this area. In 1985, the late Jim Mitchell, the then Minister with responsibility in this area, allowed Ryanair to begin operating. Only for that, we might have no airline in Ireland now. Ireland's difficulty, uniquely within Europe, is that it is an island nation. I hope that in 30 years time, we can look back on the privatisation of Aer Lingus as a job well done rather than as an effort only half-considered in the Government's haste to dispose of a possible burden.

The Minister of State is correct to say the current profitability of Aer Lingus makes this an opportune time to examine the issue. The significant turnaround in the airline's fortunes in the last few years is remarkable. We do not want to find ourselves forced to sell the company in less favourable circumstances if, God forbid, it encounters serious difficulties. It concerns many people that no plan has been suggested for Aer Lingus. While the Minister for Transport, Deputy Brennan, indicated in the Dáil that he would bring forward a discussion document on the sale of Aer Lingus and guaranteed it would have to come before the House for approval, the Government's large majority is grounds for caution. Ultimately, the Government will get its own way. Nevertheless, the commitment to bring the plan forward for discussion is a welcome step.

It is worth noting that Aer Lingus staff numbers have decreased by nearly 2,000 over the past few years. I am cynical about the recent call by Mr. Willie Walsh for 80 redundancies among pilots. He seems to be off-loading as much of the company as possible and we should ask if he is preparing it for privatisation much more quickly than we think. I wonder where Mr. Walsh himself will end up on the far side of privatisation. It will be interesting to see.