Martin Conway (Fine Gael)

-----still advising central banks and other financial institutions. Something must be done. I question whether any of them has ever been held accountable for some of their work. I am doing research on it at the moment and I will revert accordingly.

I support the invitation to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, to come to the House in the near future to discuss privatisation. Certain companies could easily be privatised. The Government will learn the lessons of the botched privatisations that have taken place in the past. What happened with Eircom was a national disgrace. Not alone did we sell what was on the silver tray, but we sold the silver tray as well. I have no problem selling what is on the silver tray because it can be created again but a problem arises when one sells the tray itself. If we had the network Eircom and previously Telecom Eireann had established around the country, every single house would have high-speed broadband. Unfortunately, not alone did we get rid of the company, we got rid of the infrastructure as well. I assure all parties that this Government will-----