Derek McDowell (Labour)

In response to colleagues who made the point about Aer Rianta International, the purpose of subsection (3) of the amendment is not specifically to give ownership to Dublin as opposed to Shannon or Cork; it was intended to ensure State ownership would continue. Reference is made to the Dublin Airport authority as the successor company to Aer Rianta plc. I accept it is a case of belt and braces but, nonetheless, I consider it important that we would do so in view of the circumstances in which we find ourselves where workers in Aer Rianta and the three successor companies are very unsure as to what will happen in future.

As the Minister is aware, the amendment was also tabled in the Dáil in an attempt to get assurances that the company would be retained in public ownership. I acknowledge that he gave that assurance in the House yesterday and today and I presume we will not get any further with it.

Before the company would seek to divest itself of either Aer Rianta International as a whole or any of its significant assets, or for that matter any of the hotels, it should have recourse to the House which was the purpose of subsection (3) of the amendment. It would be a great pity, and I do not suppose Fianna Fáil backbenchers would allow it, for the Minister to get rid of the hotels without a proper public debate as to the benefits that accrue to Aer Rianta from having ownership of the hotels, in terms of the training and so on that goes on there. I would not like to see it happening without a full and proper public debate and it was in order to ensure we had such that we tabled this amendment. However, we will not take it any further.