Pat O'Neill (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

No. The decision has to be taken in the other House yet. We do not know what way the vote is going to go.

This is a correct decision for Aer Lingus and for the country. We are a small island nation and connectivity to mainland Europe, the UK and the US is one of the most important things we have. The Government's decision to sell its share in Aer Lingus and the takeover by IAG of the Aer Lingus group will secure the future for air transport. It is about jobs. Senator Darragh O'Brien said jobs are under threat but he is totally wrong on that. The plan is that 150 extra people will be employed by 2016 and we hope to have 635 new jobs by 2020. Those are not just new jobs in Aer Lingus but around Dublin Airport, the services, airport police, customs, etc. The Senator said this will be detrimental to the country and that the Government is failing the people. This is the Government that supported the tourism industry. He said the highest number of passengers, 11 million, came through Dublin Airport last year-----