Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

I made the announcement as soon as I could after the Cabinet made its decisions. I readily agreed to have an early debate in the House. I very much welcome an open debate on all these matters and I believe one is scheduled for next week. I entirely agree with the Deputy on learning from the past. The method of sale of Eircom was not in the public interest because it sold off a strategic asset into the private sector and then it was asset stripped in many ways. That is why we are not selling off the strategic assets. We are holding on to the distribution of gas and electricity, and the interconnectors. That core is important. However, Bord Gáis Éireann may have, for example, bought a particular wind farm. While the Deputy might believe that is a strategic asset, I do not. Some are of the view that everything owned by the State is a strategic asset but that is not how we should operate.

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