"When any part of Aer Lingus sneezes, we all get a cold," a politician from north Co Dublin said this week. He was reflecting on the intrinsic link between the economic success of the local community and the fortunes of Aer Lingus and TEAM.

And while local politicians see those fortunes as having a direct bearing on their own political shelf-lives, the issue will have wider political significance in February when a by-election will be held to fill the seat vacated by Fianna Fail's Ray Burke in Dublin North. More than half the TEAM and Aer Lingus workforce lives in the constituency and the outcome could have a crucial bearing on the long-term future of the minority Coalition.

"Everyone in this area either works in Aer Lingus, is married to somebody from Aer Lingus, or is friends with somebody from Aer Lingus," says Labour Senator Sean Ryan, who is hoping to regain the Dail seat he lost in the general election. He is against "any" redundancies at the company.

Predictably, the issue poses the biggest problems for Government TDs and councillors, particularly Fianna Fail.

Dublin North Fianna Fail TD, Mr GV Wright, when contacted by The Irish Times, said he was awaiting a "private briefing" with the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, before he could make any comment.

The Fine Gael TD and former Minister of Justice, Ms Nora Owen, said she believed the company probably had no choice but to find a partner. That did not relieve it or the Government of the responsibility of dealing with workers who held letters of comfort and it appeared there was no option but to honour them fully, she said.

The fact that the letters were signed by a Fianna Fail minister, Mr Seamus Brennan, means a u-turn will be politically difficult.

The political concern is matched by local businesses, conscious of the substantial value of 1,600 TEAM pay packets amounting to an average £20,000 each per annum.

In areas like Swords, Rush, Malahide, Skerries, Balbriggan and Portmarnock, where most Aer Lingus and TEAM Aer Lingus workers live, there is great uncertainty, but support for them too.

"This area is worried about the future of the whole Aer Lingus company and most of us just want all the questions sorted out," says Mr David Donnelly, chairman of the Swords branch of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce and manager of the local branch of Bank of Ireland. A shop-owner in Swords, who did not want his name used, estimates that about 40 per cent of his business is generated by Aer Lingus and TEAM workers.