Emmet Stagg
Question:34 Mr. Stagg asked the Minister for Public Enterprise if consultants (details supplied) have reported to her on the new future strategic direction of Aer Rianta; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26101/99]
Priority Questions. - Air Services.
I have not yet received the report of the advisers which were appointed jointly by me and the Minister for Finance to assist in the examination of Aer Rianta's future strategic direction. Following receipt of this report and consideration of its recommendations, I will consult my Cabinet colleagues in the normal way and then report to Government with specific recommendations in regard to the future of Aer Rianta. It would not be appropriate for me to say what those recommendations could be.
I welcome the Minister to the House for our last session not just of this year, but of the century and of the millennium. It is the Minister's last Question Time of this millennium – she has been in the House a long time – but we will see her again in the next millennium.
I thank the Deputy. I will be back in January.
Obviously the Minister does not have a prior opinion on this matter. Does she agree that it is worrying that Ministers have now reached the stage where they cannot turn around in their Departments without hiring a consultant to tell them what to do? Usually, when the consultant tells them what to do, Ministers do not agree with them and do what they want. However, it delays the process dreadfully. Does the Minister agree that the use of consultants is sometimes used as a blind to give Ministers time to build support for their opinions?
Does she agree that what is needed in this case is about £300 million of investment in Aer Rianta? Would it not be easier, given the amount of money the Minister for Finance must invest in foreign economies to secure our pensions, for him to invest some of it in Aer Rianta, which is a good investment? He could make money at home and it would be a Government investment. Will she not return to that position rather than going the inevitable road of privatisation?
I will not be going to Government seeking capital funding for investment in Aer Rianta. I agree that Aer Rianta is a very good investment prospect, but I will not be going to Government to seek capital to invest in the company.
I thank the Minister for her straightforward answer. Can she give me some good reason the Government which has surplus money will not invest in a State company, which is a good investment portfolio for anybody, including the owner? Why will the Minister not advocate Government investment in the company which is controlled by her?
I will not advocate that capital moneys be given from the Exchequer to semi-State companies, which we increasingly accept should be competitive and liberalised and should stand on their own feet.
I wish to clarify the point before moving on. Is it ideology rather than pragmatism or a fear of being unwise in the spending of State money that does not allow the Minister to invest?
I am not consumed by ideology of any kind. We are in a global marketplace where people – man, woman and company – are expected to be self-reliant except for those who through circumstances beyond their control cannot be so and for whom the State makes arrangements in terms of recompense. The Government of which the Deputy was a member did not provide the company with money.
It sanctioned borrowings.
The company has borrowings, but a cash dividend was not provided.
The Minister seems to misunderstand what I am saying. Aer Rianta is a very good investment portfolio for the Government. The company needs investment and will have to borrow somewhere else if the Government does not invest. The Government has surplus money which it needs to invest.
I know the point being made by the Deputy.
It simply does not make sense to invest this money in a German or South African airline or airport, which is where the money will go, when we have an opportunity such as this to invest at home.
I will not be investing in a German airline.
The Government will be putting £600 million this year into foreign investment portfolios while opportunities for investment exist at home. I am not asking for handouts, feather bedding or any of that old foolishness. I am asking the Minister to make the case for Government investment in Aer Rianta.
I will not be making the case for such capital investment.
Aer Rianta is the owner of the Great Southern Hotels Group and I am wondering if a decision has been made to sell that group.
I have not decided to sell or otherwise as I am awaiting the report.