Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Senator Darragh O'Brien and many other Senators raised the proposed sale of the State's stake in Aer Lingus. The neck of Fianna Fáil with regard to Aer Lingus never ceases to amaze me. As has been correctly pointed out, a previous Fianna Fáil-led Government sold 74.9% of the State's stake in the company in 2006. Senator Ó Murchú described the proposed deal as the sale of the national airline. The national airline was sold in 2006 when a 74.9% stake in the company was sold under Fianna Fáil's watch. Aer Lingus was privatised at that point, as even the birds in the trees know. Fianna Fáil Senators can try to twist this issue any way they wish to suit their political needs but it will no longer wash. As usual, we must listen to the prophets of doom.