Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways has approached the Irish government to buy its 25 percent stake in its national airline Aer Lingus, it was reported Monday. It is remains unclear how far negotiations have progressed, the Financial Times said, citing people with knowledge of the deal. The Irish government announced in September it would sell its stake in Aer Lingus. Ryanair, the Irish low-cost carrier, responded by saying it could sell its 29.8 percent stake in the airline. News of the acquisition comes a day after the Financial Times reported Etihad had held talks with Virgin Atlantic over a potential partnership, should the British airline bid for British Midland International (bmi), the loss-making unit of the German carrier, Lufthansa. State-backed Etihad would be unable to make a bid of its own due to foreign ownership rules. But a possible tie-up between Etihad and Virgin would enable the Abu Dhabi carrier to tap into bmi’s short and medium long-haul network, sources told the newspaper. Etihad, which launched flights to Dublin in 2007, on October 8 announced a recruitment drive in Ireland to find at least 100 new Irish employees to support the carrier\'s growth around the world. James Hogan, who is in Dublin to participate in the Global Irish Economic Forum at Dublin Castle, said: “We’ve built close relationships with Ireland and with Irish communities around the world since we began our service to Dublin four years ago. “We have directly invested more than €16m into Ireland over that time. That money has gone into our premium lounge and ground operations at Dublin airport [and] our Dublin Line Maintenance Centre. “And our operating costs and Irish aircraft financing deals see tens of millions more every year coming into the Irish economy from Etihad.”