Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

If we could achieve the targets set without the sale of State assets, the honest answer to the Deputy's question is that I would be perfectly pleased with that outcome. My approach to the disposal of State assets is that I am prepared to examine the issue on a case-by-case basis. Different arguments can be advanced for different holdings in State ownership and arguments that apply to one do not necessarily apply to all of them. This is one of the merits of the shareholder executive idea encompassed or proposed in the NTMA in the guise of NewERA. Individuals with the necessary expertise and the capacity to import expertise where needed will assess the totality of the menu in place on a whole-government basis.

Is the process being driven by an ideological view in the troika? It might be better if the Deputy were to put that question to some of his colleagues. I do not know what drove them to include it in November. I have watched the situation unfold in Greece and discussed it with my Greek counterpart. The view in Greece is that they could not possibly meet the imposition on them and that they do not have the amount of state assets required to realise the targets set for them by the troika. I am unsure whether it is ideological, but there is certainly a view within the troika that the entire purpose of this country being included in a programme such as ours is to encourage the recovery of the economy in order that we can seek market access again during the lifetime of the programme. The sooner we can go back to the markets to source our own funds to run the State the better. It seems taking a rigid, ideological position is not necessarily compatible with this objective.

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