Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

A Freudian slip indeed. The sum originally, if one looks at the share value of Aer Lingus when we announced the sale, was of the order of €90 million so in the context of €3 billion it could hardly be described as any significant "chunk". It is more like a sliver or splinter, in the terms of Coillte I suppose, than a sizeable chunk. That is realistic. The vast bulk of the money that will accrue to the State will come from the Bord Gáis Energy division and the ESB energy sales. I supported that not only because it was a good generator of revenue for the State, but because I think it will be good in the long term to have more competition in the energy sector. I have always felt that the policy of the previous Administration, which created artificial competition between two State companies by not allowing the ESB to lower its prices while BGE took some of its market share, was crazy and bad for the domestic consumer and businesses. If we could get another strategic player into the market here by allowing it to have a ready-made platform, that would be good for consumers.