Derek McDowell (Labour)

I would like briefly to tease out an issue. The only discretion the board of the Dublin Airport authority will have will be linked to the capital reserves issue, which we discussed earlier. As the Minister rightly pointed out, the board of the authority will not legally be permitted to transfer some of its assets until the capital reserves issue has been sorted out. A board which is not eager to transfer the assets will have the option of not dealing with the capital reserves issue by liquidating some of the other assets. It might be possible, therefore, for such a board not to advance on the issues we debated earlier, including the possible sale of hotels, the realisation of foreign assets, etc. Am I right to say that if the board were to fail to make a decision on realising assets, the sanctions we are debating would give the Minister the power to direct the disposal of the foreign assets? Is it reasonable to assume the Minister will seek to use his power to do that if he is still in office?