I echo the concerns of the Ministers, Deputies Donohoe and Howlin, and Senator Darragh O'Brien regarding the proposed takeover by British Airways of Aer Lingus. In remote parts of the UK such as Scotland, which has a population of 5.3 million - a half million more people than in this State - there is six times more capacity on the north Atlantic out of Dublin than there is out of Glasgow and Edinburgh combined. British Airways is a Heathrow-based organisation. It wants to divert traffic there and has done so from Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Belfast. We were trying to develop direct links with North America and did so very successfully. The takeover is not by a dynamic airline, rather it is by a traditional European national airline that specialises in colluding with other national airlines. In its own jurisdiction, it is completely overshadowed by EasyJet and Ryanair.

I note that no worker directors are attending the meetings and neither are two important directors, Christoph Mueller and David Begg, whose terms I understand are expiring. We seriously need to consider the implications of doing in Dublin Airport with British Airways control of Aer Lingus what British Airways has already done in virtually all the UK non-Heathrow airports. This is a Heathrow-based airline which will funnel everything through Heathrow.

I welcome Ann Pettifor's interview on "Morning Ireland" this morning in which she pointed out that in 1953, half of Germany's debts were written off by the rest of us. She makes an important contribution to the policy debate, as Senator Zappone has done. There were faults in Frankfurt and Brussels. It is not always down to the Greeks being indolent, the Spanish taking long lunch breaks or Irish bankers going a bit crazy. The design faults in the euro currency have to be addressed. We need a debt summit. I hope that the Government will move towards asking some of the people they meet in Brussels and Frankfurt where they were on 29 September when Irish banks needed rescuing. The lenders of last resort did not turn up. There are faults on both sides. The election of Syriza presents the rest of us with an opportunity to redress that balance. There has been so much misery and impositions on people all around the peripheral countries because the Franco-Germany common currency was translated into a Europe-wide currency, with massive design faults.

I agree with Senator Darragh O'Brien's points in relation to the sale of the State's 25.1% share in Aer Lingus. It should not be forgotten that the remaining 74.9% was sold off when Fianna Fáil was in government. Interestingly, yesterday a caller to an RTE radio show blamed this Government for the sale of Eircom.

Senator Darragh O'Brien's party was responsible for the sale of that company.

At the time of the sale of Irish Sugar, now known as Greencore, the Government retained a golden share. When the possibility of surrendering the sugar quota arose, a number of key players put together a package worth €150 million to buy sugar juice from the Mallow factory with a view to keeping it open and retaining employment. However, the Government of the day, which was led by Senator Darragh O'Brien's party, decided to surrender the sugar quota, resulting in many job losses in the factory and among growers, harvesters and transport companies. The Government did not use its golden share, which gave it the power to prevent the off-loading of the sugar quota.

I have serious reservations about the sale of the remaining 25.1% State share in Aer Lingus. The issues are jobs, connectivity and the need to retain the advantages that accrue from having access to key locations from Cork, Shannon and Dublin airports. The House should debate the possible sale of Aer Lingus as it is an issue that requires serious consideration.

I share the opposition of Fianna Fáil to the full and final privatisation of Aer Lingus. To take one fact about Aer Lingus, it has treated its pensioners in a grotesque manner. Despite being in profit, the company has shafted its own pensioners, cutting some of their pensions by 60%. That decision was intolerable. I hope the Government will carefully examine the issue.

With regard to Auschwitz, I endorse the comments made by Senator Bacik. Auschwitz is an important memorial, particularly as the people who survived it are now few in number. I note that Alfred Hitchcock made a film about Auschwitz, which has never been seen but is about to be given a showing in London. I hope it will also be made available here as I understand it contains some quite extraordinary scenes.

With regard to the election in Greece, I welcome completely the decision of the Greek people and hope it marks an end to the period when German leaders went around Europe deposing duly elected leaders of different countries and installing eurocrats to do their bidding. It is time the people of Europe stood up. While they are showing some signs of doing so, albeit in a kind of random fashion by voting for independents and so forth, something more concentrated, a real opposition, is needed because there is a complete disconnect between the people who are governed and the governing parties. Governments are totally out of touch, although they are in touch with the financial system, which they are doing everything to preserve at the expense of their own people.

A debt conference is needed. It is ludicrous for the Government to argue that we do not need one. If any country needed a debt conference, it is Ireland because we were massively swindled by European institutions. Of course, we should demand a debt conference.

I am pleased with today's discourse regarding the sale of Aer Lingus. The Seanad should voice its unanimous and stout opposition to any attempt to sell the national carrier from under us for a pittance. The State would receive €300 million for its share in a company that has €400 million in its bank account. The sale of Aer Lingus would be the final straw for many people. As other Senators pointed out, we need only consider what happened to the beet industry and the loss in employment in rural areas that followed its closure or the privatisation of Eircom, which left swaths of the country without decent broadband or connectivity, to use a word that is often applied in the context of airports.

Now we are told that this has been taken out of our hands. It may well be that the Government does not have a strong hand in that it only retains 25% of Aer Lingus. I believe we should retain that stake to maintain our claim and influence over the national carrier and all it holds. If the Heathrow slots are of such significance, we should retain them and use them to develop from the regional airports our tourism and other industries. I do not believe it would be a good day's work for Irish workers or the economy if Aer Lingus were sold.

There were heated exchanges over the legitimate fears that Irish Water might be sold off by another Government down the road at some later stage. Why would anyone believe us that this would not happen if we turn a blind eye and allow Aer Lingus to be sold out from underneath us, for what are really 30 pieces of silver? The €300 million windfall is mere pocket money when compared to the real investment, real money and the long-term advantage we would get in retaining Aer Lingus. At least we should retain our stake and influence if we do not have outright control. We should not support the sale of Aer Lingus.