Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

My announcement last week contained the details of the breadth and timescale of the Government's plans to dispose of certain non-strategic State assets. We have agreed with the troika on the sale of assets up to a value of €3 billion based on the guiding principles that there will be no fire sales, integral transmissions and distribution systems will be retained in State ownership and full value will be derived for the State. The assets to be sold will be Bord Gáis Éireann's energy business, but not including its gas transmission and distribution systems or the two gas interconnectors, which will remain in State ownership; and some of ESB's non-strategic power generation capacity. Consideration will also be given to the sale of some assets of Coillte, but not its land holdings, and the sale of the State's remaining shareholding in Aer Lingus when market conditions are favourable and an acceptable price can be achieved.

In the case of the energy State companies, meetings take place between the Minister for Communications Energy and Natural Resources and union representatives from time to time. However, no meeting has been held since the Government decision was announced last Thursday. Job losses are not, as the Deputy's question suggests, an inevitable outcome of this process. Apart from the receipts from the sale of assets that the Government will retain for reinvestment in the economy, the sale of certain business units of State companies offers the prospect of access to significant new capital to grow these businesses, which might not have otherwise have been available to them, given the current position in capital markets.

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