Every murder here does us down as a people. I am appalled at the news this morning that a young Swiss student, having come to Ireland last weekend, has been murdered in Galway. I hope the public responds to the call for assistance from gardaí so that the perpetrator of this latest murder is brought to justice. It does us all down to have such unfortunate and tragic events foisted upon us.

This week, 11 October is a critical date because it is the date by which arrangements must be made for approval for slots into Heathrow Airport. We have had many conversations with and heard much waffle from Government on the consequences of the decision of Aer Lingus to move its Heathrow slots from Shannon to Belfast. If Aer Lingus does not submit a request for Shannon-Heathrow slots by Friday, to be approved at a conference in Toronto sometime in mid-November, then the decision stands. Words of Government are supposed to mean something and a Government is supposed to stand by what it says. The Government retains a shareholding of 25.4% in Aer Lingus for a particular purpose that the Taoiseach identified as defending strategic interests of this country. Those strategic interests were identified as Shannon-Heathrow, Cork-Heathrow and Dublin-Heathrow. Can the Taoiseach explain how the strategic interest of Shannon is protected by the removal of the slot from Shannon Airport to Heathrow?

I join Deputy Kenny and, I am sure, everybody in the House in conveying deepest sympathies to the family of Manuela Riedo. It was a callous murder of a girl who had only recently arrived in Ireland. The Garda Síochána has launched a major murder investigation and whatever resources are necessary to apprehend the killer will be made available.

The decision at the beginning of August, on which the Government has made several statements outlining its position, to withdraw the Shannon-Heathrow service from January 2008 was a commercial decision on the part of Aer Lingus and the company has reiterated that it will not change that decision. The Government is conscious that this will create difficulties for the region and several members have met all the relevant organisations from Shannon.