The Irish government is to oppose Ryanair’s latest bid to buy the whole of rival airline Aer Lingus.
Ryanair, which already owns 29.8 per cent of Aer Lingus, made a €694 million bid in June to buy the rest of its Irish rival.
But the Irish government, which also owns 25 per cent of Aer Lingus, has now come out against the takeover by Ryanair. Although the final decision on whether to allow the hostile bid to go ahead will be taken by the European Union next month.
Ireland’s transport minister Leo Varadkar said that the remedies being offered by Ryanair were “not sufficient”.
Ryanair has offered more than 40 routes from Ireland’s major airports to other airlines as part of attempts to win approval – it has already agreed a preliminary deal to sell the majority of Aer Lingus’ slots at Heathrow to British Airways’ owner IAG.
But these moves have failed to convince the Irish government that the deal would be good for the country.
“The Ryanair offer and at least the remedies that are being reported are not sufficient in our view, so we won't support their bid and will not co-operate with their remedies package,” said Varadkar.
“The commission will make its own decision, but we have given our views and they are around connectivity, competition and employment.
“We don't see any advantages for Ireland in what's being proposed and we see very significant potential risks.”