A major Goldman Sachs consultants' report, which will lay out the options for the future of Aer Lingus, has been received by the Department of Transport, it emerged last night.
Denying the existence of any Government rift, the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, said Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats had "an open mind" on the issue.
Goldman Sachs was told to examine all of the options for the airline's future, including continued State ownership, a private equity sale, or complete privatisation. The Government's special subcommittee on transport will examine the report next week after the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, returns from a 10-day visit to Asia and the Middle East.
Aside from the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste, the subcommittee also includes the Minister for Finance, Mr Cowen; the Minister for Transport, Mr Cullen; and the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue.
Insisting that no decisions had been made, the Tánaiste said: "What we want to ensure is that we have a strong viable airline, more services into North America, more services into Europe." The company had done "extraordinarily well" when other airlines had gone to the wall such as Sabena. "What we want to do is to make the best possible decision for the future of Aer Lingus. But we need, clearly, advice and guidance in relation to that matter and that's why we asked the consultants to prepare some advice for the Government. I understand that's imminent.
"We will then look with an open mind on what the needs of Aer Lingus are." It was clear that Aer Lingus would need extra finance to fund the purchase of a new aircraft fleet, she said.
". . . the issue arises should they be public resources or should they be a mix of public and private, or should they be exclusively private.
"We have to approach that clearly with an open mind, bearing in mind, of course, that any money that may be available from the taxpayer would be at the expense of other capital projects.
"Therefore, if there was money available from private sources, then we might use a mix of public and private money, but I think we just have to have an open mind."
She welcomed the decision of Aer Lingus chief executive Mr Willie Walsh and his colleagues to withdraw formally their intention to lead a management buy-out. If the MBO attempt had gone ahead, she said, it would have faced a conflict of interest.
"There's no doubt about that, but when we asked the consultants to look at everything we asked them to look at the MBO option. I think the MBO was always the most unlikely option to be pursued by Government for a number of reasons."