Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

Will the Senator tell us how often he gets letters from constituents indicating they have no problem? I do not get too many of those. I get letters telling me they are experiencing problems but they do not write to tell me that everything is grand. I spelt out the position clearly yesterday. Everybody in the financial sector in this country must now know about this issue. It has been in the headlines for weeks. I conclude that the bond holders and lenders to a State company are quite happy and satisfied. I do not know whether the Senator has any knowledge of the markets, but it seems to me if one has a bond drawn on a State company today and is getting paid, one is likely to stay quiet because it might be difficult to match that arrangement elsewhere. I state clearly that no concern among bond holders or creditors has been communicated either to me or to the Department of Transport. One piece of correspondence came to the company when this was announced a year ago. It was properly responded to by Aer Rianta at the time, with the company reassuring the correspondent that it was solvent and there was not an issue. That was the end of the matter and I am quite satisfied there is no issue here to be concerned about. Any creditor of Aer Rianta, whether bond holder, trade creditor or whatever, can be assured that he or she is fully covered. I am reliably convinced that this is the view of the bond holders also. They have my phone number and I have not heard a word from them.