Feargal Quinn (Independent)

I wish to make four quick points. I remind those who are protesting about the behaviour of Aer Lingus that this was easily foreseeable. The Goldman Sachs report last year made it clear and that was one of the reasons I voted against it. Despite all its smokescreens the Government's 25% holding was never going to enable it to place national priorities ahead of a privatised company.

I urge everyone not to be bamboozled again by the Government. The Minister is appointing two new directors but let us not be taken in by that. If a majority of Aer Lingus shareholders cannot stop the management, a minority of the board certainly will not be able to do so.

In the future Aer Lingus will apply the simple laws of arithmetic to dealing with its Heathrow slots. A big aeroplane uses the same slots as a small aeroplane, a long-haul aeroplane uses the same slot as a short-haul aeroplane. If Aer Lingus wants to maximise the value of the Heathrow slots in the long term it will use the biggest possible aeroplanes on the longest possible routes. That means that Aer Lingus will make more money by flying directly from Heathrow to New York and other points in the United States. If the imperative to make more money drives the airline that is what it will do. I foresee a time when for us to get from Ireland to America we will all have to fly through London.

Let none of us underestimate the ruthlessness with which Aer Lingus will pursue what it sees as its commercial interests. It seems to believe that it can successfully pursue a strategy against the wishes of its shareholders, the Government, its staff and, even more so, its existing customers, whom most people would regard as its most valuable asset. The very haste with which it has announced this decision shows that it has a different mindset. Only time will tell whether the company can survive with such an approach.

We should be in no doubt as to what to expect from the company in the future. The warning for Shannon and the west is one for us all. We could and should have foreseen this. We argued about it last year but this was not recognised.