Tom Morrissey (Progressive Democrats)

I say "successful" because the flotation was intended to bring about a number of outcomes. One was equity for the company. The second was the plugging of its pensions deficit and the third was the strengthening of its balance sheet, which has certainly happened. However, the Government has retained a major shareholding in the company and we need a debate on the present management of Aer Lingus. Only last week one of the new shareholders alerted the public and the airline's passengers to the fact that the company's catering department now buys in its sandwiches. This morning we heard of swingeing job cuts at the company, starting with the catering department. Why has this not been done already? The management stated two weeks ago that the flotation of Aer Lingus would not result in lower fares. This morning it stated lower fares would result from the proposed job cuts.