Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 8, 10 and 14 together.

The EU-IMF Programme of December 2010 involves a commitment that the Government will outline methods to raise funds through asset disposal. The 2011 budget included a similar commitment. The programme for Government includes a commitment to finance investment from the proceeds of the sale of certain non-strategic State assets.

Far from confirming to Dáil Éireann last week that the sale of strategic State assets was not a condition of the memorandum of understanding of December 2010, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, stated that the European authorities and IMF require the sale of State assets as part of the programme and confirmed that the Government supports the sale of non-strategic State assets.

Ireland is significantly dependent on the funding arrangements put in place under the EU-IMF deal to pay for its public services and restore the banking system. In this context, I accept that the fiscal path to which the Government is committed under the EU-IMF agreement demands that the option of realising value from State assets be fully explored. I accept that there is significant value in commercial State energy companies that could be realised at an appropriate time after necessary further analysis of all the complex factors relating to the disposal of commercial assets in the energy sector.

The memorandum of understanding between Ireland and the troika, as revised last April, commits the State, at the insistence of the troika, to an ambitious programme of asset disposal. In terms of value, this has inevitably led to a particular focus on the State energy companies, especially ESB Electric Ireland. In this context, the sale of a minority stake in the ESB as an integrated utility has been agreed by the Government. This decision is an early demonstration of the commitment by the Government to the programme for Government objectives and its obligations under the memorandum of understanding. The sale will be advanced by means of a defined process involving a full evaluation of the best approach to be taken, including consideration of the size of the minority stake to be sold. The process is being progressed by a group co-chaired by my Department and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and includes officials from the Department of Finance, the National Treasury Management Agency and NewERA.

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