Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

—— and they are falling for one reason among others, because wind power is coming on stream and it is bringing prices down. We are delivering a better economy by going green and it is happening on the ground across this country in new insulation schemes, in grid development schemes, in Bord Gáis investment and in Bord na Móna investment. Each of the State companies is following the direction of a green recovery and it is working for them and for the country. The Government is delivering rather than talking about it.

Fine Gael has made a remarkable proposal of this New ERA company whose chief executive officer would be appointed by the Taoiseach rather than by a line Minister and that company would include everything, An Post, the ESB, Bord na Móna, the MANs and EirGrid. How in God's name would that not just turn out to be the most bureaucratic, Kafkaesque organisation the country had ever seen? There are proposals to sell certain assets such as selling the ESB's telco assets although keeping the MANs and buying in Eircom. I do not understand the reason for selling Bord Gáis because it is a crucial State infrastructural asset. This is a mishmash. To expect to manage An Post — which is not easy — and Bord na Móna and Coillte and the ESB and Bord Gáis in one company would be a bureaucratic nightmare——

See this speech in context