The Tánaiste, Ms Harney, repeated her view that Aer Lingus needs private investment.
She noted that the Goldman Sachs report had urged this, and it was "a view I share".
Rejecting a claim that the Government had delayed in dealing with the issue, she said: "We received this report six weeks ago. Given the nature of the decision involved, it is natural that we should consider all the implications." Ms Harney said the Government had indicated that it would make a decision before Christmas on an investment option for the airline. The Minister for Transport, Mr Cullen, would bring a memorandum to Cabinet on the issue.
"Under all the circumstances, that is satisfactory," she said. "As I said on other occasions, the turnaround in Aer Lingus has been incredible, and great credit is due to all its workers who are ably led by a capable management team."
The Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny, asked if the manner in which the issue was handled was "an indication that the Government is already tired and jaded and unable to make a decision on the future of Aer Lingus, a decision brought forward by an executive team which played to win for the company while the Government dithered to lose for the country".
He added that the executive team had gone, the horse had bolted, and €200 million had been wiped from the company's market value and it had been left in a state of suspended paralysis for the foreseeable future.
Ms Harney said she did not accept that there were unnatural delays. "I said there had been a Cabinet reshuffle. Obviously, the new Minister needed time to consider all the issues, and that is natural in circumstances of this kind," she added.
"My advisers and I had access to the report a couple of weeks ago, shortly after it was submitted to the Department of Transport. A consensus is emerging in the Cabinet sub-committee. That was clear to me at the meeting on Monday." Clearly, said Ms Harney, they would need a chairman and management team in place, but the Government must also make its decision clear so that the uncertainty could be removed.
"I admire the manner in which the company has been led by the management team and the board over the past few years," she added. "If one reflects on the debate in this House, there were many gloomy predictions on the opposite side of the House in September 2001 with regard to Aer Lingus. I am delighted to say that those prophets of doom did not see the gloom arise. They were confounded, as they will be on this occasion."
Earlier, Mr Kenny said it was evident from the Goldman Sachs report that the Government had received clear warnings, at the beginning of last October, about the loss of the management executive of Aer Lingus. "The report stresses the importance of the current management team. At no point does it indicate that the management group was driven by greed or avarice." He added that the Fianna Fáil wing of the Government had completely dominated the debate on the issue.
