Ireland's finance minister said in a newspaper interview published on Monday it was important for the government to keep a blocking minority stake in Aer Lingus to show its commitment to the airline.

Brian Cowen said the move was to prevent a foreign takeover of the Irish state carrier, which floated last week.

"We wanted to show there was a continuing commitment of the government to the airline," Cowen told the Financial Times.

"It's important for us to be able to influence the direction of the company going forward. (There is) the whole question of maintaining control of our slots at Heathrow. These are important issues," he said.

The FT said Aer Lingus' 23 landing slots at London's Heathrow Airport were a key part of its development.

The carrier is still seen as Ireland's national airline despite a reduction in the state's shareholding from 85 percent to 34.8 percent last week, the newspaper reported.

Cowen told the Financial Times the government's decision to maintain its stake was also to prevent the business being taken over by foreign interests.

"That's our position. A further government decision would be required for a further dilution of the shareholding. And there are no immediate plans (for that)," he said.

The newspaper said the government's stake would fall to just under 28 percent as it sells a further 6.5 percent over the coming weeks.

Aer Lingus priced its initial public offering at 2.20 euros a share last Wednesday, valuing the group at EUR1.13 billion euros (USD$1.43 billion).