Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will not comment because the matter, which is being discussed between the scheme members and the company's management, does not fall within my brief. I suspect that both the members and the company are in receipt of senior legal advice.

The company has another issue to consider. As members will know, the ESB is one of the largest state enterprises and employs a significant number of relatively well-paid employees. It is important, given the State's recovery from the crash, that the ESB and other semi-State bodies should, as was traditionally the case for the ESB, be able to borrow on the international lending markets. That is possibly a factor in the management's approach because that possibility means investment and with it all the consequences for the ESB's structures, electricity generation and transmission and so on. However, I do not have the capacity to comment on the specific issues.