Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)

I sometimes wonder where we are and where we are going when I hear the remarks of the people with responsibility for governing this part of our island. Having said that, I welcome this debate, which Sinn Féin has been seeking since the publication of the McCarthy report last April. Already, as we debate this, the Government has declared its intention of selling off a stake in the ESB. This week, Fine Gael and the Labour Party are engaged in talks with the EU and IMF to decide how many other State assets to sell off and where the money will be spent. Sinn Féin is resolutely and firmly opposed to the sale of valuable State assets such as the ESB. I have heard the arguments from the advocates of these sales, who say it will boost the State's revenues. This is short-termist thinking. It is the same short-termist thinking that our absent friends from the Labour Party rejected in their election-----

See this speech in context