Mary Ann O'Brien (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. Staunton and Mr. Fox to the joint committee and acknowledge how pleased I am that they attended. I am very impressed by their hard-hitting, pointed report. While I had already stated publicly that I am strongly in favour of the Government not selling the State asset, any doubts I might have had have been completely obliterated by the excellent presentation this afternoon. Before I move to the Bacon report, I note that we are talking here about part of our national soul. I am so pleased the witnesses collaborated with economist Peter Bacon to produce a report which shows so clearly that all we will gain for giving away our soul will be the ability to pay off our credit card debt for a month. My response is "oh my gosh".

I really welcome the closing remarks of the IMPACT presentation. I realise the witnesses are here on behalf of IMPACT rather than Coillte. I disagree with them that the report "should" affect the decision of the Government. If the workers are in favour of turning Coillte around, of sweating it instead of selling it, of working together since we all love it, of changing their culture to reform and work with Coillte to introduce some entrepreneurial spirit, that must be put on the public record as a no-brainer.