Airline monopolies and nationalistic red herrings

IS Fergus Finlay becoming a little paranoid in relation to the Ryanair bid for Aer Lingus? (Irish Examiner, October 10).

He writes of a future in which Michael O’Leary will have killed off all airline competition before exploiting his monopolistic position to force the airport authorities to sell their assets to him.

Monopolies thrive when access by competitors is prevented. In Ireland, such behaviour is painfully visible in utilities and in some aspects of telecommunications and ground transport.