John Ellis (Fianna Fail)

The Senator can use his own time to criticise me any way he likes.

Aer Lingus is now a private company. It is no longer State-run. Why was this necessary? Aer Lingus needed substantial capital investment in the coming years if a national airline of any description was to be maintained. As Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport, I held a number of meetings at which we discussed the privatisation of Aer Lingus with the current management and their predecessors. It was politely outlined to us that state aid to airlines was no longer allowed if difficulties arose. It was Hobson's choice, so we had to decide that it would be privatised. When it was privatised some people may have thought that because the State maintained 25% it would control the airline with that interest. The State is a 25% shareholder but it does not have control of the day-to-day management decisions. Aer Lingus management saw a business opportunity by swapping the Shannon-Heathrow slots to Belfast. The management was wrong. If it had spare capacity on the Shannon-Heathrow route, which is quite obvious, then rather than having four flights a day it should have left two return flights per day, morning and evening. That would have solved everything and kept everybody happy. That is the approach that should have been adopted, rather than getting out of Shannon altogether. By quitting Shannon, the company is leaving a part of the country without connectivity. Let us not be under any illusions about it. That is the situation in which we find ourselves, so we must now look ahead and see what we can do about it. I do not know whether Aer Lingus might still, at this late stage, consider leaving two slots for Shannon-Heathrow, but I do not think it will. Is there not an opportunity, however, for somebody else to take up the slack? Last week, the death occurred of Mr. Tony Ryan, a person who probably made the greatest contribution to the Irish aviation industry. He saw an opportunity for Ryanair and what could be done for the airline sector generally. There is a business opportunity in Shannon for some other airline to take up the slack. The Shannon Airport Authority has a major role to play in this regard, but it will have to get out there and sell that business opportunity.