Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)

I am sharing time with Deputies Donnelly, O'Sullivan and Ross.

I listened to the entire debate and to what the Ministers said during debates on parliamentary questions and I refer to something that was stated several times. The Minister, Deputy Rabbitte, in particular admitted that the sale of State assets is not an ideal position. We know Fine Gael's position because in The Irish Times this day last year its finance spokesperson stated he was in favour of selling State assets, that Ireland could no longer pay for inefficient State monopolies and that 40,000 public sector jobs would have to be cut. There is no doubt about the Fine Gael position. The doubt is about the Labour Party position. I have listened to the only contributor from the Labour Party in addition to the Minister. It is all about attack and not about dealing with what is not ideal.

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