Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)

I thank my colleagues in Sinn Féin for sharing time. I acknowledge what the Minister stated last week and fully appreciate the difficulties he faces and the difficult position in which he finds himself.

It is vitally important that we maintain the security of the supply of energy on this island. The ESB is a net contributor to the Exchequer. It is a world renowned company which could be the catalyst for further development in this country. State assets and the potential earnings which might accrue to them must remain in the hands of the people. I ask the Minister to compare the ESB, as it is now, to Eircom and the position it occupied in the past. It is only 11 short years since our telecommunications network was in an excellent condition. Massive improvements had been made to it, particularly the part of it located in rural areas. People were provided with a great service. After 11 years of profiteering, asset stripping and plundering, however, Eircom is now €3.7 billion in debt and the network is crumbling. If one travels through rural areas, one will see telephone poles leaning over. The service is almost non-existent, which is ridiculous. All of this occurred as a result of privatisation. It is good to make a comparison between the ESB and Eircom.

I am extremely uncomfortable with regard to what has been termed a "fire sale". I am becoming very nervous. Should we not just inform the European Union and the IMF that we cannot pay back the money we have been loaned? If we do not retain our indigenous assets, we will no longer be the masters of our own country. Ireland will become a country ripped up and stripped apart by the European Union. We will be left with nothing.

State companies were established because private companies would not venture outside towns and cities where business was highly lucrative. We all know how private companies dealt with the roll-out of broadband. The country's communications and energy infrastructure - namely, roads, the rail network, fibre-optic and copper networks, electricity and gas networks, etc. - should remain in State ownership. The current suggestion that 25% of the ESB be sold is all wrong. It would open the door to a future sale of the whole company, including its networks. I remind the Minister of what would have happened if a company like the ESB had been in private ownership in the past. Does he really think a proper electricity supply would have been provided to places like Lambs Head, Valentia Island and the Black Valley? It would have been completely cost-prohibitive for families to set up an electricity supply when building their homes and keeping rural Ireland alive and vibrant. They would not have had any electricity because they could not have afforded to connect their houses to the network. We have seen the good the ESB and its workers have done in the past. I compliment the ESB's excellent workers and acknowledge the great work they have done in bad weather and the worst of conditions.

We have to learn from the mistakes of the past. We know what the closure of our sugar beet factories, which has already been mentioned, meant to the people. We closed vital parts of our rail network over the years. If such infrastructure were still in place, it would be invaluable. We have to realise that there is a time to sell and there is a time not to sell. Now is not the time to strip down the ESB or any of our other State companies. We should hold on to what we have and what took so much hard work to build. If privatisation takes place, customers and consumers who rely on a quality service at an affordable price will lose out. I ask the Minister to take all of this into account. I appreciate and readily acknowledge the terribly difficult position the Minister and all his Cabinet colleagues are in. I want to work with the Government to ensure the right decisions are taken. I ask the Minister not to throw the baby out with the bath water. That is all I am asking.

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