Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

I am glad the Government has clarified that any choices to privatise will be Government choices and are not being foisted upon it by the troika. The Minister said from the get-go that the sale of semi-State assets would refer to those that are non-strategic but he has failed consistently to offer a definition as to what differentiates a non-strategic from a strategic asset. We know he intends to sell off a stake in the ESB, and the speculation around the likes of Bord Gáis leads me to wonder whether the Government has given any meaningful consideration to or has any understanding of what are strategic assets for the State. Those assets, as the Minister is aware, are self-financing and return dividends consistently. The Minister states that the troika views an ambitious privatisation programme as a structural reform to improve efficiency but the decisions taken by his own Government fly in the face of that analysis. How does the Minister propose to deal with the issue of water infrastructure? He is dealing with it wrongly in my view in respect of charges but structurally he has opted for a commercial semi-State structure. He is doing that because he knows from past experience that approach works. ESB and Bord Gáis have delivered first class infrastructure. The Minister has never given any rational explanation as to how, from his viewpoint, the part privatisation of these assets gives us any kind of medium or long-term advantage. Also, the Minister used the term "a sizeable amount of proceeds". What is a sizeable amount of proceeds?

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