Rejecting Aer Lingus bid would send 'appalling message', says CityJet chairman

CityJet chairman Pat Byrne has said that the Government would be sending the wrong message to the business world if it rejects IAG's takeover bid for Aer Lingus.

IAG chief Willie Walsh will come before the Oireachtas Transport Committee today in an effort to win support for the company's bid for Aer Lingus.

The Coalition has some concerns about the future of routes from Ireland if the deal goes ahead - as well as local jobs and the Heathrow landing slots.

Walsh has

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He also “absolutely guarantees” the Aer Lingus brand would not be changed, and rubbished union suggestions that 1,200 jobs would be lost.

CityJet chairman Pat Byrne said that if the Government decides against the takeover, it would reverse much of the work done previously in global business circles.

"If this does get rejected on local, political grounds, it sends an appalling message to the world of what kind of country we are to do business in, it really does," he said.

"It unwinds everything that this Government has been trying to do in the last few years, in terms of repositioning Ireland as a great place to do business.

"It's ostrich, it's negative - this is the politics of paralysis. It's terrible."