There is a major de"cit in the fund, which covers workers at Aer Lingus the Dublin Airport Authority and former Team Aer Lingus employees, and the government is now suggesting an exgratia payment of 200m to be made from the proceeds of any privatisation.

This is a simple yet clever ruse, as on the one hand the unions are opposed to the privatisation of the airline, but on the other hand they realise the pension de"cit is a huge issue that needs to be addressed. Is this offer pitched in such a manner in an attempt to buy off the unions? No doubt about it.

The government has signalled that it would like to sell a majority stake in Aer Lingus by the third quarter of this year, and movement on the pension issue is seen as a crucial hurdle to be cleared as part of any sell-off.

Whether the 200m carrot will work remains to be seen but, in the meantime, a growing band of sceptics remain to be convinced that the Taoiseach won't kick for touch on a privatisation of the state airline ahead of next year's general election. It's going to be a very interesting couple of months.