MINISTER FOR Enterprise, Trade and Employment Mary Coughlan said Aer Lingus had told her it needed Hangar 6 at Dublin airport.

She said that on the basis of conversation, and work with Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey, she wanted to assure the people of north Dublin that she had asked the airline about the matter. “It was indicated to me that to sustain Aer Lingus, and deal with the challenging issues in aviation it faces at present, and so it can consolidate its position, that Hangar 6 was hugely important.”

Ms Coughlan said that on that basis, she was in a position to indicate to Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary that there was not just a legal impediment, but that it was imperative to Aer Lingus’s sustainability that it continue to have the hangar.

“On that basis, I provided further opportunities for Ryanair in the configuration of existing hangars and offered two sites that are available at Dublin airport,” Ms Coughlan added.

She insisted that the Government was being “fair, reasonable and doing all we can, but it is difficult to get across the situation that Aer Lingus has a lease for 20 years and that Hangar 6 is imperative for the sustainability of the company”.

She said that Opposition TDs, including those from north Dublin, would be first to criticise the Government if it did not allow continuation of a viable Aer Lingus, a viable Ryanair and a viable Aer Arann in the State.

“They are all going through difficult times in aviation at present and we are still open, as I indicated to Mr O’Leary at the meeting, to working through a number of alternative proposals and that we are more than supportive of him if he wishes to have those 300 jobs that he wants,” she added.

Dublin North Fine Gael TD Dr James Reilly said that he wanted 300 jobs for north Dublin, as did the redundant workers in SR Technics.

Ms Coughlan replied: “So does this Government. But we cannot do it on the basis of what cannot be delivered, but we have alternatives, and I, the Minister for Transport and the representatives of the State agencies, are more than willing to support Ryanair and its requisite needs.”

Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said jobs had been lost in Waterford and Limerick, and he wanted to ask Ms Coughlan directly whether she would create the 300 jobs at Dublin airport.

“At this stage we have heard so much about hangar this and hangar that. But what people want to know, particularly those hoping to get this employment, is whether these jobs will be provided,” he added.

Ms Coughlan said she had given a considerable amount of information to members of the House on the issue.

“It is a matter for the party concerned now as to whether the other ways in which this matter can be dealt with will be dealt with,” she added.