Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)

I move:

That Dáil Éireann:

— recognises that the ESB is self-financing, has paid €1.2 billion in dividends over the last nine years and contributed €2.2 billion to the Irish economy through purchases from Irish suppliers, taxes, rates, wages and dividends in 2010;

— further recognises that the ESB is of long-term strategic importance to the State's energy supply, in providing skilled employment, training opportunities and a variety of energy and telecommunications services and could play an extended role in the area of telecommunications by using its existing networks to address the State's broadband deficit;

— acknowledges that throughout the current economic and financial crisis the ESB's investment in infrastructure has remained high, unlike Eircom, which continues to be dogged by a decade of under-investment following privatisation resulting in the State remaining below the EU15 and OECD average of broadband penetration per capita;

— notes that Ireland is lagging at least three to five years behind competitor countries in terms of rolling out infrastructure capable of high speed next generation broadband;

— welcomes the Government's decision to accept the recommendations of the Cahill-Frontier report, entitled Transmission Asset Analysis, against unbundling the ESB's transmission and distribution assets;

— asserts that the programme for Government commitment to target up to €2 billion in sales of so-called "non-strategic" State assets drawing from the recommendations of the McCarthy Review Group is an unnecessary and damaging fiscal measure driven by a privatisation agenda;

— believes that commercial semi-State companies should not be privatised in part or in whole;

— asserts that semi-State companies can play a vital role in delivering employment activation measures and training;

— affirms that, as a small open economy, State control of strategic State assets and service provision, including but not exclusive to public transport, aviation, ports, forestry, water supply, broadcasting, postal services, energy supply, telecommunications, is central to the future security, prosperity of the economy and society, and environmental protection of the island;

— rejects the Government's decision to sell off a minority stake in the ESB;

— mandates the Government to inform the EU-IMF-ECB that it will rescind its commitment to a programme of State asset disposals; and

— calls for dividends paid to the State by commercial semi-State companies to be reinvested into job creation and retention measures.

Beidh mé ag roinnt mo chuid ama le mo chomhghleacaithe, Deputies Ó Caoláin, Ellis, Ó Snodaigh agus Ferris. Molaim an rún atá os comhair na Dála anocht i dtaobh an Bord Soláthar Leictreachas atá thíos in ainm Teachtaí Dála Shinn Féin.

Last week the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Pat Rabbitte, announced the Government's plan to part privatise the ESB. Despite decades of rhetorical support for this valuable State asset and pre-election pledges to keep the company in public ownership, the Minister came forth to announce a key plank in the Fine Gael Party's pre-election proposals. The discomfort among Labour Party backbench Deputies must have been considerable.

There was something deeply dishonest in the way the Government justified the decision to sell off a portion of one of the most successful semi-State companies in the history of the State. We are told that selling a minority stake does not represent a significant loss to the State and that proceeds from the sale of this share will be invested in economic recovery. As all of us know, both claims are untrue. The part privatisation of the ESB will be disaster in the long term and bad for consumers and ESB workers. There is no rationale for the decision other than that the Government is being pressurised by the International Monetary Fund and the European Union to sell off State assets to service the debt. Clearly, this pressure is too great for the Labour Party to resist. None of this should come as a surprise because Fine Gael made it crystal clear during the election campaign that it wanted to part privatise the ESB. The programme for Government more than hinted that the party had got its way when it promised to "target up to €2 billion in sales of non-strategic state assets drawing from the recommendations of the McCarthy Review Group on State Assets when available." What is surprising, however, is the speed with which the Labour Party capitulated to Fine Gael's demand, backed by pressure from the European Union and the IMF.

We need to remind ourselves of what the Labour Party stated only a few short months ago. Its election manifesto stated the party was committed to the "concept of public enterprise, and is determined to ensure that semi-state companies play a full role in the recovery of the Irish economy". It also stated clearly that "Labour is opposed to short-termist privatisation of key state assets, such as Coillte or the energy networks". Within a matter of months, however, it has made a U-turn of massive proportions and announced what is undoubtedly the thin end of the privatisation wedge. This decision could well result in the eventual break-up of the ESB and loss of control by the State and the taxpayer. Unfortunately, this is just the latest in the growing list of broken promises and U-turns by the Labour Party since taking office in March. On social welfare, protecting the low-paid, local hospital services, natural resources and jobs, the gap between what the party promised the electorate and what it is delivering is growing by the day.

The arguments against the part privatisation of the ESB are compelling. The company is self-financing and has paid €1.2 billion to the State in dividends in the past nine years. In 2010 alone it contributed €2.2 billion to the State through purchases from Irish suppliers, taxes, rates, wages and dividends. The company is not only of long-term strategic importance to the State's energy supply, it is also a driver of substantial economic investment and employment.

Unfortunately, the Government is not being driven by long-term or strategic considerations but by an EU-IMF austerity programme that insists on selling off valuable State assets to service toxic private banking debt. It is also being driven by a right-wing Fine Gael agenda which is anti-public sector and intent on dismantling semi-State companies. The Government will argue that it has no choice and its hands are tied. It will claim that under the terms of the EU-IMF austerity deal, it must raise at least €2 billion through the sale of State assets. As all of us know, in politics there are always choices, if one wishes to explore them. The Government has other options available to it to raise this revenue. For example, it could introduce a wealth tax on individual liquid assets with a value of more than €1 million, raising an additional €1 billion per annum for the Exchequer. Alternatively, it could negotiate a loss-sharing agreement with the ECB on the Anglo Irish Bank promissory note, saving the Exchequer billions of euro, or refuse to pay the €703 million senior, unguaranteed, unsecured bond due to mature in Anglo Irish Bank on 2 November.

What is clear is that if a portion of the ESB is sold, it will be gone for good and, with it, the many benefits that accrue to the taxpayer. If the Government needs confirmation that this is the case, it need only consider the privatisation of Eircom in the mid to late 1990s. The legacy of that sale can be clearly seen in the significant decline of Eircom landline penetration from 82% to 69% and the lack of adequate broadband coverage across the State.

What is most galling and truly remarkable is that a Labour Party Minister is fronting this right-wing rip-off, although given the Minister's history of ideological transformation, this is perhaps not surprising. The question many of us are asking is what Labour Party backbench Deputies will do when faced with a clear choice between their pre-election promises and the right-wing policies of the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and Fine Gael. To the Labour Party Deputies who may be listening to this debate in their offices and members of the party who are genuine social democrats concerned with the interests of taxpayers and public sector workers, I want to make a direct appeal. Do not let the party sell off this vital State asset to pay down the debts foisted on the State by a failed Fianna Fáil Government. Do not let the party undermine decades of hard work and investment by exposing the vital strategic asset we have to the uncertainties of the private market. Do not let the party trade what is meant to be one of its core principles - public ownership - to bail out banks and bondholders. For its part, Sinn Féin is steadfastly opposed to the sale of any part of the ESB because to do so would be bad energy policy and bad economic policy and detrimental to Irish consumers, taxpayers and workers.

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