I wish also to address the record of the Minister, Deputy Brennan, not the projected one in his new portfolio but rather the legacy he has left following his departure from the transport Ministry. I speak specifically in regard to Aer Lingus. Does the Taoiseach not agree that it is a scandal that the national airline has been sized up for a sell-off, a privatisation, to the management team at Aer Lingus? Does the incoming Minister for Transport intend holding to the policy position pursued by the Minister, Deputy Brennan, while he had that responsibility or will the Taoiseach now definitively, on his own behalf and on behalf of Government, reject the outrageous proposal for a management buy-out of Aer Lingus?

Will the Taoiseach not agree, and I do not believe this is overstating the fact, that it is an act of piracy against the interests of this country and economy, not to mention the workforce, that any particular body of the workforce, albeit the current management or whatever, is in a position to buy out and take overall control of Aer Lingus and then, presumably, participate in a massive stripping exercise for their own personal gain? We need to be cognisant of the fact that workers in Aer Lingus have been the key factor in ensuring its success over many years, and that is not to lose sight of the loyalty of Irish travellers who have been, through the most troubled and difficult economic times, loyal users of Aer Lingus. People throughout the country feel strongly about this issue. Does the Taoiseach not recognise that already there have been 3,000 redundancies? Does he not accept that it is a misnomer to describe the proposed further redundancy of 1,300 people as voluntary when it is clear that it is anything but voluntary, against the backdrop of this company recording profits of €100 million in the past year? Is the Taoiseach aware, and I ask him to be clear when replying to the House, of the detail of the proposals being put to some 1,300 workers and their families, with all that means, and does he accept that this is not voluntary and that the vague promises about replacement and relocation amount to nothing?

I remind Deputy Ó Caoláin that in recent years the Minister, Deputy Brennan, was involved in progressing projects, nowhere more than in Deputy Ó Caoláin's constituency in Carrickmacross, Castleblayney, Monaghan town and Cavan. They were all major projects and I thought he would have wanted to put that on the record of the House.

What projects were those? I thought that was the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.

The Deputy was probably at the opening of them.

On the issue of Aer Lingus and as I said to Deputy Kenny some time ago, that report is being prepared. It should be ready some time in October and will examine some of the strategic issues raised about Aer Lingus. The Government will examine that report. I said previously that the idea of a management buy-out was not one I thought received support but we have to do these things properly and examine it. We also have to be realistic and twice in the past 14 years Aer Lingus has experienced grave difficulties, once in the early 1990s when we had to give what was then very substantial resources in the order of £360 million to help the company at that stage, which worked successfully, and then more recently on the back of the events of 11 September. There is no doubt that the good work of staff and trade unions in the airports is highly commendable. They have done a great deal to help keep the airline functioning and put it back into profit from the difficult situation in which it found itself in the last quarter of 2001. However, we cannot close our eyes to what is happening around the world. Some of the great airlines have gone because they were not able to compete and survive. As an island country we have a strategic national interest in an airline. These issues must be carefully examined and the Government will do that.

I hardly think the Taoiseach's reply amounts to a categoric rejection of any proposal to countenance a managerial take-over or any other privatisation of the national airline. He perpetuates the concerns, not only of the workforce but of broad opinion on this issue across the country. Is the Taoiseach aware that in its last major redundancy offer Aer Lingus medical staff in the axed medical centre were offered relocation as baggage handlers within the Aer Lingus workforce? What is being offered to the 1,300 people who now face threat? Does he regard that as an offer that would keep them still in the voluntary bracket? Nobody else would.

Is the Taoiseach aware that there is great concern among the existing and the pensioned workforce of Aer Lingus about management's efforts to undermine the detail and terms of the pension entitlements and rights of workers in the airline? The Pensions Board deemed this exercise totally unacceptable. Will the Taoiseach at least be specific in addressing the retired and the present workforce in guaranteeing that he and the Government, particularly the new Minister for Transport, will ensure that there will be no tinkering with the pension rights and entitlements of existing or former employees at Aer Lingus? He should at least give them that comfort.

The Government will continue to work closely with the trade unions representing Aer Lingus and its staff on all the issues vital to their future. The report on the future of Aer Lingus, which considers some of the strategic options and some of the difficulties, will be available this month and there will be an exchange with the workers. I have stated that I am familiar with the efforts of the workforce, the trade union representatives, the staff and management associations, and with issues concerning former staff. I have addressed these and worked with the individuals involved since the late 1980s and will continue to do so.