Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

Deputy Fleming and his colleagues already sold the country down the river. Tens of thousands of households are in serious debt because of the way Fianna Fáil mismanaged and abused the privilege of government. On this side of the House, we are not doing so and we are using the sale of some of our State assets, and in the case of the ESB a majority share in the company, to bring about more jobs. It is about renewing our country and getting investment in our infrastructure. That is what we are about and this does not just refer to the money we get from the sale of State assets. We must also find willing partners in the marketplace to invest in our infrastructure. This is about changing the way we do business rather than having the same old Fianna Fáil reaction and conservative thinking. We want to change and we are driving change. The NewERA authority, set up within the NTMA, is doing so. A chief executive has been appointed and, as we speak, protocols are being set up between NewERA and Departments in order to ensure we maximise the potential of our country, our Department and our resources in order to take people off the dole, give them hope and stop them taking the boat or the plane to the UK, New Zealand, Canada, the USA or wherever they can get a job. Not enough jobs are available here and it is about time we changed the debate. It is about time we focused on what we can do with assets. We can sell part of them to invest with other partners to create employment. We are focusing on transforming our economy, notwithstanding the crisis we are in. This is the most important time to do that. Given the economic situation, it has never been cheaper to invest in our infrastructure.

Significant investment is needed in our water infrastructure. Visiting local authorities, including in Waterford last week, see the problems that exist. We must upgrade our water infrastructure so that new businesses coming in - new employers coming to the Dublin area - will have proper and adequate supplies of water. We will create thousands of jobs in renewing the water infrastructure but we on this side of the House want a buy-in from everybody. We will have a full and proper debate on all of the issues with regard to NewERA and how we are going to change things.

I was in Northern Ireland recently and saw that there will be fibre-optic broadband connections to every area by the middle of next year. Northern Ireland is far ahead of us in its broadband infrastructure, although the Minister, Deputy Rabbitte, is investing along with the private sector. We will ask what the private sector will do and we will add what is required to make a difference in this country so that we have adequate broadband connections for our people and our industries.

With regard to renewing our electricity grid, we have the best and most attractive wind energy potential, probably in the world but certainly in Europe. We must establish wind farms, both on sea and on land. We must change the way we do things. By using part of the money from the sale of State assets to invest in this infrastructure, we can create thousands of jobs. That is what this is all about. It is not a dry theoretical argument from the extreme left or extreme right. We are bringing about change and bringing people together by selling assets we have no need to hold on to, while retaining companies, such as the ESB, in State ownership to bring about the change that the former Government failed to achieve. The Government's target is to create at least 100,000 jobs over its term in office. NewERA is only a part of that, but it is an important part. We want change and we are going to ensure it happens.

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