Madam, - It is with some amusement that I read of the apparent shock and awe among our chattering classes over Ryanair's attempt to finish off Aer Lingus. I can only presume that they actually believe all the free-market drivel about how competition is supposed to work.
Those of us who have had the benefit of not having attended one of this great little nation's third-level institutions know that the thing the business community hates above all others is competition. It may be good for the consumer, but it's bad for business.
Less than a week after the State divested itself of a perfectly sound and profitable business - one presumes at the behest of the dogmatic junior Government partner - it now appears that we are to return to the monopoly situation which prevailed up to the 1980s. Remind me: why exactly is it all right when the monopoly is privately owned? - Yours, etc,
DAVID SMITH, Harmonstown Road, Artane, Dublin 5.
Madam, - Why not Ryanair? It seems that following the Government's foolish decision to privatise (and we should also ask, if we have a referendum on every new EU treaty, why didn't we have one on this important issue?), Aer Lingus will be bought up by some former competitor. If it is to be Ryanair, there is a good chance that the principal routes from Ireland to Heathrow will remain in operation - Heathrow being the only London airport from which Ryanair does not yet operate. If Aer Lingus were to be bought by British Airways or BMI these lucrative Heathrow slots would certainly be reassigned to more profitable transatlantic routes, cutting off Irish travellers from one of Europe's most important hubs.
Anyone who has tried to commute from Stansted to Heathrow to catch a long-haul connection will understand why my vote is for "Ryan-Lingus". - Yours, etc'
MARK SUGRUE, Egham, Surrey, England.
A chara, - As Dutch computer-hackers drive the final nail into the folly that was Martin Cullen's attempt to introduce electronic voting (The Irish Times, October 6th), we now see his ideologically driven sell-off of the national airline becoming the nightmare many of us predicted. The thought of Ryanair taking control of Aer Lingus sends a shudder through my spine. If the board of Aer Lingus can dismiss Ryanair's offer of €2.80 per share as undervalued, what was the Government doing selling off Aer Lingus at the paltry price of €2.20 with such obscene haste a little over a week ago?
People are rightly angry as the Government have sold the national airline for a song and now it is left to the mercy of the wolves of private enterprise. Never has the PD-driven neo-liberal agenda of privatisation, so keenly pursued by the coalition Government, been so starkly exposed. Is Mr Cullen the most incompetent minister we have ever had? - Is mise,
MAURICE QUINLIVAN, Stenson Close, Limerick.
Madam, - What did people expect? This discredited Government entrusted the flotation of Aer Lingus to a Minister whose incompetence had been displayed over and over again for all to see. I've been waiting to see what would go wrong. I didn't have long to wait. - Yours, etc,
DONAL HANLEY, Malahide, Co Dublin.