Ireland considers selling €89m Aer Lingus stake to cut national debt
10 September 2011Transport minister Leo Varadkar said Aer Lingus is ‘”certainly under consideration'” as part of the government’s attempts to raise €2bn (£1.8bn) through asset sales as it desperately battles to cut national debt.
“‘That stake in the past was held for strategic reasons,'” Mr Varadkar told Irish media on Wednesday. “‘I don’t think that really stands anymore.'”
The government had considered Aer Lingus’s slots at Heathrow airport to be vital to Ireland. However, their importance has diminished because of an increase in direct flights to and from Dublin.
source: Telegraph.co.uk
