The Government has failed to meet its commitment to decide on the future ownership of Aer Lingus before Christmas.
Although Ministers discussed the ownership of the State airline at their weekly meeting yesterday, no decision will be made before the end of January.
The Government said in a statement that it will decide on "future investment in the airline" next month following an engagement with each of the Aer Lingus stakeholders, including its unions.
The failure to reach a decision at yesterday's Cabinet meeting, the final one before Christmas, means that the uncertainty surrounding the airline's future will persist into the new year.
The airline's current chairman, Mr John Sharman, is due to stand down at the end of this month and its three most senior managers are to leave the company in May.
A spokesman for the Minister for Transport, Mr Cullen, declined last night to comment on the process of recruiting a new chairman.
"The matter is being dealt with currently," he said.
The Government said in a statement yesterday that Mr Cullen had briefed the Cabinet on the "issues and challenges" faced by the airline.
No one in the Cabinet is arguing for State investment in Aer Lingus, which needs up to €1 billion in additional capital by 2008 for new aircraft.
But although the Government is expected to decide in principle that private equity should be invested in the company, no move to privatise the airline is expected before the next general election.
There is also some doubt about the scale of the stake that will be sold if privatisation goes ahead.
The Government statement said Mr Cullen had been mandated to engage immediately in discussions with the trade unions in Aer Lingus.
The first of these meetings has been scheduled for tomorrow morning.
The challenges for the airline "include in particular the need to position Aer Lingus for growth and to enable the company to have access to significant capital investment to facilitate that growth", said the statement.
