Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

I will try to respond to the questions asked by Deputies McDonald and Wallace. On the ESB's capacity to borrow, the ESB is a flagship company which has a great record. However, it, no less than any other State company, is impaired by the impairment of the sovereign, which casts a shadow on the capacity to borrow of each State company that is part of the State apparatus. I do not wish to say any more than that. It would be economically naive to think that impairment of the State would not have a consequence for State companies and their capacity to obtain investment funds, as they did previously when Ireland was triple A rated as a sovereign. That response is in respect of the point of view put forward by both Deputies.

As regards the process, I do not believe people have read the Government statement which states that it has decided in principle to sell a minority shareholding in the ESB to deleverage up to €2 billion. The Government will work to see if a portion of that can be used to invest in the next round of State jobs. We have set up a process to do this, which is co-chaired by the Departments of Public Expenditure and Reform and Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. We are examining all the regulatory frameworks in this regard. There are regulatory issues involved because the decision of the Government to keep the ESB as an integrated entity requires the energy regulator to accept the proposal and permission from the European Commission. This has not yet been done. We will have all of this fundamental work completed and a report back to Government by end of November, including a proper valuation, regulatory framework and timing assessment.

In response to Deputy Wallace's specific question, let it be crystal clear that if we do not get value for any State asset we will not sell. There will be no fire sale of any asset. We are not time bound to get bad value for this country and taxpayer. That will not be done. I hope I have answered the Deputies' questions in regard to process. I reject the notion that we could have done things in another way. One first makes a decision in principle and then decides whether it is feasible to go that road. If ultimately we go a different road we will explain that to Members. We have not and will not sign any deal. Members will be aware that every decision made by this Government has been in the interests of taxpayers. We have come a long way from the abyss in which we found ourselves upon taking up office.

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