Feargal Quinn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful we are having this debate. It is not ideal not having a Minister here but it is better than what was going to happen at 5 p.m. and I congratulate the Leader on that.

We all have a great affection for Aer Lingus. It is one of those brands that has been around for some time. If I am not mistaken, I think Aer Lingus and I were born in the same year and, therefore, I feel particularly proud of it over those years. I feel a particular pride as I arrive on another country and see that Aer Lingus shamrock logo on an aeroplane on the runway. The danger of losing that is something none of us wants. The people of the Netherlands were quite concerned when Air France took over KLM. They felt they did not have ownership of KLM anymore and that it was their own national airline. On that basis, we will all be sorry if this happens I believe the steps that have been taken have enabled the Aer Lingus brand to stay alive but it will depend, to a large extent, on its ability to run it in a manner which will keep it alive and healthy.

I have a little concern when governments run businesses. Governments very often run businesses not with the objective of running them as good businesses for their customers and for their success, but for other purposes, such as political purposes or, perhaps, as Senator O'Neill stated, for jobs, and that is wrong. I was chairman of a hospital in the 1980s when we were having difficulty with unemployment. The Government would write to us every month asking how many jobs we had created in the hospital. Even though we did not need them, the aim was to see if we could create jobs, and that is wrong.

Look what happened in the airline industry when Ryanair suddenly turned up. Ryanair is not a government-owned company but it came along and stated it did not need cleaners because it would get its own staff to do the cleaning as aeroplanes landed. As one arrives anywhere on a Ryanair flight, an Aer Lingus flight and on other flights, one does one's own cleaning - in other words, the staff come along with a plastic bag and one puts all the rubbish in it. In recent years, I have travelled a lot to Brussels and Ryanair flights flying into the airport close to Brussels unload and load up in seconds. The turnaround is so efficient. That would not have happened with a government-owned airline but, because Ryanair led the way, others had to follow, and that is what will happen here too. Aer Lingus has certainly become healthy because of competition. I am a great believer in competition which is much more likely to happen if the airline is not solely owned by a Government which perhaps has other objectives.

Having weighed up all the pros and cons, I am inclined to say I support the objective of this deal. It seems to be the best deal we can get. I am happy to see that Aer Lingus will continue - I hope with seven years guaranteed. I hope it succeeds as well as it can on that basis and continues for a lot longer than that.