The Great Southern Hotel group could be sold as part of changes to Aer Rianta, but any sale is unlikely for several months at least, the Government said yesterday.

A spokesman for the Department of Transport, which has responsibility for Aer Rianta, said the hotel chain would be transfered to the new Dublin Airport board.

However he said the transfer would not be concluded for some time and it was unlikely the hotels would be sold immediately. He said the Minister believed it could take up to a year to implement all the changes at Aer Rianta.

The new Dublin Airport board is being given the hotels as a "counter weight" to having to accept the debts of Shannon and Cork airports.

Last Thursday the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, said the new board of Dublin Airport would ultimately decide the fate of the hotels, which could be worth up to €200 million.

However, the Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue, yesterday indicated that support for their sale was not unanimous among the Government.

Speaking in Kerry, he said: "I have always had the view the Great Southern Hotel Group is a flagship for the Irish tourism industry and makes an enormous contribution."

He said from a tourist point of view there would be little to be gained from a sale.

However, a new Dublin Airport company, with considerable debt on its balance sheet, might see things differently.

A few weeks ago the Aer Rianta chairman, Mr Noel Hanlon, joked that he wished someone would come forward for the hotels.

Previous attempts to sell them were stymied when the Independent TD Mr Jackie Healy-Rae voiced his opposition.

The hotels are regarded as prestigious properties and if there was a formal sale, their size and location would prove attractive to large hotel groups