Will we pay in the future if we sell our share in Aer Lingus now?

THE Government knows that selling its share in Aer Lingus will be politically tricky, and will require careful handling. In holding the issue over to yesterday’s cabinet meeting, and in moving on in the afterglow of last weekend’s same-sex marriage referendum win, it is managing its exit from the airline business with as little political hassle as can be hoped for.

It will be years until we know if it was the right call to have sold our 25% stake in the State airline. In the meantime, the Government has a one-year horizon. Everything is being timed towards then.

Not everyone will be happy if Aer Lingus is sold and they may be right, but the trade unions are over a barrel. They have some concessions and assurances and the barrel is not Aer Lingus, it is the new version of social partnership (renamed as ‘social dialogue’), which has just commenced. For them, that is the real game. It is for us, too, because they are playing with our money.