Govt faces Dáil fire over Ryanair move to buy Aer Lingus

The Government has come under fire in the Dáil today over its handling of Ryanair's move to take over Aer Lingus.

Opposition parties described the Coalition's decision to sell off the national carrier as its second botched privatisation following the Telecom Eireann debacle in 1999.

They also demanded to know what the Coalition was doing to prevent the proposed Ryanair buy-out from becoming a reality, with Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins saying it would be "nigh on impossible to get the Michael O'Leary cuckoo out of the Aer Lingus nest".

Finance Minister Brian Cowen, however, said there were "regulatory frameworks" to deal with competition issues and other questions surrounding the takeover.

"There are a lot of obstacles for people to jump before people can draw the conclusions that the Opposition are drawing this morning," Mr Cowen said.