Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I have no difficulty reconciling what we have said. There is no doubt that these are strategic assets and it is for that reason that the Government has decided to sell only a minority stake in the ESB to ensure the State maintains a controlling interest. It would have been my wish that we were not forced into this position at all, but the memorandum of understanding with the IMF and EU signed by the previous Government, of which the Deputy was a member, in November 2010 made plain that the disposal of State assets was a condition of the funding of the State. I wish it were not so and my colleagues will hold discussions with the troika this week on the issue. We will see what will come out of that, but unfortunately that is the genesis of the problem.

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