Shane Ross (Independent)

I do not see much point in having debates on Aer Lingus unless the Taoiseach comes to the House. Senator O'Toole referred to the lack of a need for politicking. I sympathise with that but Aer Lingus is all about politics. That is the trouble with it. The person who is pulling the strings on Aer Lingus is not Mr. Walsh, the management or the Minister; it is the Taoiseach. We only had to listen to the Minister, Deputy Cullen, speak today on "Morning Ireland" and other programmes and hear how he managed to say absolutely nothing for about three quarters of an hour. We need a debate and we need the Taoiseach to come to the House because he is the man who has been saying he does not want an MBO or many other formulae. In the meantime, the Taoiseach and Ministers have been sitting on this issue for far too long. There is a sub-committee, which, for some reason, has not met. Unless Senator Morrissey and others put greater pressure on the Taoiseach no decision will be made on Aer Lingus until the next general election or the next crisis.