Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)

Discussions with the troika are ongoing this week in respect of the issue. We are ensuring that we can leverage State assets to create jobs. Deputy Boyd Barrett has a political philosophical view on selling State assets that must be respected but there is a process of engagement with the troika in which commitments are given by this Government, which is sovereign. We are not going to disavow those commitments but, as a Government, we are in the business of seeking to ensure we can get out of this economic morass. The sale of State assets is one mechanism by which we can do this. We want to create an efficient tool called NewERA so we can ensure that we can leverage the assets to create jobs. I cannot give an exact answer of pounds, shillings and pence for the number of jobs we can create.

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