Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

I come to this debate with a slightly different perspective from some of the comments. I do not make the case that the motivation for the consideration of the sale of the State assets is because we are forced into it or are being required to do so by the troika.

I, along with a number of colleagues in Fine Gael, spent a lot of time in opposition examining the basket of State assets. We tried to assess them, particularly those involved in energy and telecommunications and natural resources such as forestry. We tried to determine whether the current cluster of State assets was appropriate for a modern economy and if we needed to reconfigure them or add to or subtract from them, as appropriate. We considered whether we needed to sell some assets which were no longer required to be a monopoly or under State control and if we could realise some value from them order to raise money which could then be invested in building a new assets which the State needs to own for strategic reasons.

The philosophy of NewERA is not centred on raising money to pay off debt, rather it is about trying to assess what the State needs to own for strategic reasons. People will question the use of the word "strategic" in terms of how one defines it. The ESB includes an infrastructure to carry electricity in Ireland, whether it is a network or grid. It is a monopoly and it makes sense to keep it in State ownership and regulate it aggressively to make sure we get good value for people who use it.

In terms of the arguments on the generation of power and driving efficiencies, I have no hangups about public or private ownership. I do not approach the issue from an ideological point of view, rather I have a pragmatic point of view, namely, examining all our State assets, deciding what the economy needs now and what it will need in five or ten years' time and what makes sense to have under the control, management and regulation of the State and what can be done better by the private sector because of the competitive forces that can drive efficiencies and so on.

This is about reconfiguring, not selling off, State assets, in order that we can raise money to build new ones when and where it is appropriate, or add to them in the case of the electricity network. We need to have an honest conversation about what the State should be doing in the interests of shareholders, namely, the public, rather than in the interests of people currently working with State-owned companies. Ultimately, that is what this is about. The role of the ESB is to provide power safely, efficiently and consistently to the country and it has done some of that very well. There are questions in terms of some of the efficiencies in delivering electricity in as affordable and competitive a way, from a pricing point of view, as possible.

I am Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. Following the publication of the McCarthy report, I asked Deloitte on a pro bono basis to examine the recommendations in terms of what assets should remain in State ownership and what would realise some value without compromising the strategic ownership position of the State.

The only asset worth anything substantial in my portfolio is Coillte. I have made no secret of the fact that we are considering whether we should realise some of its value while holding on to the strategic elements State currently owns. I want to debunk a number of myths. Nobody is considering selling Coillte and all of the land it controls. It owns 7% of the land mass of Ireland and there is no question that the Government is considering the sale of any of that land.

We have made clear that where there is a public access value to the land, which is an important strategic value for the State, it would also be maintained. What is being considered is whether the State would sell one, two or three crops of commercial timber and realise the value now for a harvest period at some stage in the future. Commercial timber has a significant value internationally and there is no question of a crash sale without realising its full value. We are considering maintaining the strategic ownership of Coillte where it makes sense on a commercial and social basis.

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