Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

There will be no fire sales and regulatory matters are to be examined. Obviously, the European Union has a big role to play in that regard. It sounds as if the Government jumped the fence very quickly. The Minister agreed with his Fine Gael colleagues that the Labour Party should be bullied into selling off the ESB, Coillte and several other semi-State bodies. I am delighted that the brake has been put on all parties in government by the EU regulatory frameworks in the energy sector, etc. That is very good and important. A figure of €2 billion was mentioned in the programme for Government with regard to the sale of State assets. Some of the Minister's colleagues said in this House that the troika was looking for €5 billion. However, the troika has made it clear that it does not have a particular view on the issue. Certain Ministers have engaged in serious bluffing about the demands of the troika which they said wanted the Government to achieve a certain figure from the sale of State assets. It now transpires that was not the case.

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