Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)

The Deputy misinterpreted the Minister's remarks because he clarified this morning that there is no dispensation by the troika to reinvest this money in jobs. I heard the Minister say that the State would retain some State involvement, however, "some State involvement" is not the same as "owning". When challenged, he said also that this was not privatisation. Are we going to sell something and yet keep it? I would like to hear how one can do that.

Valuable assets are those that are worth selling. That is the difficulty. The ESB is a strategic asset and by breaking it into component parts, one brings people into the boardroom to strip the assets. I want to hear from the Labour Party, because every day its backbenchers are fulfilling a role of being either cheerleaders or hecklers. This is a significant issue for people of the left.

We will get our sovereignty back in time but we need to know the type of country we will inherit. We are taking dangerous short-term decisions on very important assets.

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