Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

It is a pity we do not have longer, as we could go into greater detail. If the Government sells 20%, the temptation to sell off another slice when it is short of money will be great. Selling will be handy and painless compared with making cutbacks and raising extra taxes, and slice after slice will be sold off until the whole pie is gone. All sorts of reasons will be given as to why this will work, but we will regret the decision five or ten years down the road.

I was pleased to learn today that there would be no fire sales. The Government will spend more than €200 billion in the next four years, yet this approach will only realise €2 billion. I do not believe the Government's assertion that the troika is insisting on €2 billion. If the troika has an ideological hang-up, all of us who believe in State enterprises must fight it.

Before we take this route, people should read the McCarthy report carefully. It shows how successful State enterprises are. Consider the reinvention of Bord na Móna or Coillte, which uses its property in a better way than many private companies do. Bord na Móna has created a new energy company that uses waste energy and so on. It is a lie to claim that if money is taken from these companies and given to the private sector, the latter will create more jobs than the former.

Will the Minister return to his colleagues and reflect on this matter? They should reconsider their policy and avoid making a fatal mistake just to get short-term cash.

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