Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

This is one of the most important motions to be put before the Dáil in recent years. The decision to sell off a stake in the ESB is totally wrong and I warrant that the Minister knows that this is the case. It is the first step towards privatisation of this and other key strategic State assets at the diktat of the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank. The disastrous IMF-ECB deal so cravenly accepted by Fianna Fáil and the Green Party is now the equivalent of the old British regime at Dublin Castle, warping the economy and impoverishing the people for the benefit of outside interests.

It cannot be said often enough that the most recent general election saw one of the greatest frauds ever perpetrated against the people who rejected the Fianna Fáil-Green Party wreckers of the economy and gave a strong mandate to Fine Gael and the Labour Party, both of which had been highly critical of the IMF-ECB deal. That deal was clearly rejected by the people and armed with that mandate the new Fine Gael-Labour Party Government should have gone back to the IMF and the ECB and told them we could not and would not pay, the austerity regime was not working and we had to invest in job creation and growth instead of paying off bank bondholders. Instead, Fine Gael and the Party Labour bowed the knee to the IMF and the ECB, took up the axe left down by Fianna Fáil and the Green Party, and continued with those savage cuts. Tá na pairtithe sa Rialtas seo tar éis dallamullóg a chur ar an bpobal. Vótáil siad ar son pholasaí amháin ach tá polasaí eile ar fad á chur i bhfeidhm anois.

The Minister for Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Deenihan, has proposed to take over the Bank of Ireland building in College Green, which was the old Irish Parliament building. This is ironic, given the fact that the members of that Ascendancy Parliament sold it out in return for bribes from the British Government, just as the political establishment in this State sold what was left of our economic sovereignty to the IMF and the ECB, surely the greatest sell-out since the Act of Union itself. Now State companies are up for grabs, with large chunks to be sold off. It is the worst kind of short-sighted policy and will come back to haunt our society and our economy in the years ahead.

I wonder what joker came up with the name "NewERA" for the body to be set up to act as an agent for the sale of State assets. It started as a Fine Gael policy document in November 2009 which promised that 105,000 new jobs would be created. What has happened to that promise? At least Fine Gael stated clearly in that plan its intention to sell off State assets. It was otherwise with the Labour Party, which before the general election said it was committed to State enterprises and pledged that it would use commercial State companies as a key part of economic recovery. It said, and has said continually over the years, that it was opposed to privatisation. Now this Fine Gael and Labour Party Government is to set up NewERA as a non-statutory body within the NTMA which will take responsibility for the management and disposal of commercial semi-states from Departments. NewERA will also decide on dividends paid out to the State, pay levels and pension fund policies. The Government claims any moneys raised will be used for investment and job creation, but we know very well that the EU and IMF want the moneys to be used to pay down the debt.

As our motion states, the ESB is self-financing, has paid €1.2 billion in dividends in the past nine years and, in 2010 alone, contributed €2.2 billion to the economy through purchases from Irish suppliers, taxes, rates, wages and dividends. The company is of long-term strategic importance in providing the State's energy supply, skilled employment, training opportunities and a variety of energy and telecommunications services. In addition, it could play an extended role in the area of telecommunications by using its existing networks to address the State's broadband deficit.

We reject the Government's decision to sell off a stake in the company to private interests. Let it not be forgotten that the ESB, like other strategic State companies, was built up when wealthy private interests were unwilling to invest in the building and development of infrastructure in the State. They preferred to invest their money abroad, just as the Government is now sending billions of euro out of the country to pay the gambling debts of bank bondholders.

After the achievement of self-government for 26 of the 32 counties, successive Governments built up strong State-owned companies. That must be acknowledged, and the parties responsible merit praise for their initiative. The ESB, Aer Lingus, our telecommunications infrastructure, Bord na Móna and others were strategic pillars of the economy. Of course, these companies must be equipped to adapt to change, but what is not acceptable is the ideology which dictates that the people of this state, through the Government, cannot retain any of these in public ownership and cannot even assist them out of public funds.

The sound investment made when the ESB was established and developed has paid off handsomely over the decades. Throughout the current economic and financial crisis the ESB's investment in infrastructure has remained high, unlike that of Eircom, which continues to be dogged by under-investment following its privatisation. We know who benefited from the fiasco that was the Eircom privatisation: the likes of Tony O'Reilly and other privateers who creamed off profits and dividends. We are still paying that cost. The State, which should be a world leader in communications infrastructure, now lags behind other EU and OECD states in terms of broadband availability per capita.

The Fine Gael-Labour Party programme for Government is committed to obtaining up to €2 billion from sales of so-called non-strategic State assets, drawing from the recommendations of the McCarthy review group. This is not based on any sound economic strategy. On the contrary, it represents another step in the downgrading of the economy and a further limiting of the potential of the State to help create jobs and bring about economic growth and recovery. These semi-State companies should not be privatised in part or in whole because they can play a vital role in delivering employment activation measures and training.

In the past ten years the ESB and Bord Gáis alone have paid out nearly €2 billion in dividends. It is economic madness to start selling off these vital national assets in whole or in part. The Government defends this by asserting that it is only a partial sale of a stake in the ESB, but once the rot begins where will it end? We have ample evidence of what happens.

Molaim an rún seo, a cuireadh síos ag Pairtí Shinn Féin, do na Teachtaí uile sa Dáil. Iarraimid ar an Rialtas gan dul ar aghaidh leis an díol seo agus an Bord Soláthair Leictreachais a choinneáil go hiomlán i seilbh mhuintir na hÉireann.

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