Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the number of Government board appointees currently appointed to the board of Aer Lingus; if he will detail the duties of the Government appointed Directors; and the mandate with which they have been provided. [39871/12]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The State’s shareholding of 25.11% of ordinary share capital in Aer Lingus entitles the Minister, acting through the Minister for Finance in his capacity as shareholder, to nominate up to three persons as “Minister’s Nominees” on the Board of the Company. There are two directors currently serving as Minister's Nominees - Mr Francis Hackett and Dr Colin Hunt.

The duties of these directors derive from the Companies Acts and the directors are obliged to pursue the best interests of the company.  Subject to that duty, upon appointment the two directors were requested to seek to ensure that all decisions of the company that have significant implications for wider Government, aviation or regional development policies are considered at Board level.  In any such decisions they are directed to seek to reconcile commercial and public policy objectives.