Dara Murphy (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate. I welcome the ambition to keep the ESB together as a single unit and that only a minority share is being considered for sale. There has been the usual emotive language from the Opposition with terms such as "fire sale" and "short-term benefits at the expense of long-term gain". The opposite is the case. This is a very measured approach, bearing in mind the commitment in the EU-IMF deal to sell State assets in order to repay our debts.

We must acknowledge that the past six or seven months of this Government has changed the standing of Ireland within the European Union. We have negotiated an interest rate reduction and the economy has experienced growth. It must be accepted that after five years our unemployment levels are falling, albeit at a modest rate. For the first time in many years, this gives the Government the opportunity to make the case to those in Europe and those who loaned us the money that it has the competence and vision to take a portion of the money that can be achieved from the sale of State assets and reinvest it within the economy.

There has been much crazy economics cited in the debate, with figures of €5 billion touted and taking total values of wealth as if that is how taxation is secured. The way to achieve the ultimate repayment of our debt is to do so through economic growth. Rather than selling the assets and repaying the debt, we should continue to send the strong message that our Government is delivering - the troika is in Dublin as we speak - and that the ambition is to use moneys raised to secure further growth in the economy. The semi-State sector has been extremely successful over many decades and there can and will be new job creation in new semi-State bodies that may be developed in the context of NewERA, which is ambitious and forward-thinking and the correct approach to take. To suggest the Government has a policy of reducing the number of people employed in the semi-State sector is false. The Government sees huge potential in developing new State agencies that will serve the people long into the future.

The other issue is how we look at our State assets. Over the past number of months there has been a considerable improvement in the number of foreign and domestic groups interested in coming and looking at these assets. One of the more interesting proposals that has arisen recently is the suggestion of lease agreements, whereby the State could, at a reasonable value to the Exchequer, enter into agreements that would release money back to the State without fully disposing of the asset. That suggestion, along with the report due in November - I welcome the haste with which the Department acted on this - should be considered in the context of the valuation being made of all of our State assets.

The constant and persistent suggestion from Independent Members here that the objective of the Government is anything other than patriotic is nonsense. The Government is motivated by patriotism and is trying to pull the country back to be the first programme country of the three that will be released and will regain its sovereignty, as a result of the prudent and ambitious programme we are undertaking today.

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