Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)

Speaking in support of this motion it is important we are mindful that the sale of State assets is an integral part of Fine Gael policy. Now, unfortunately, we know that Labour Party is on the privatisation bandwagon, despite its election promises and commitments to keep State assets in public ownership. That is a sad position for the Labour Party to adapt.

We know the Government plans to dispose of €3 billion in State assets. We do not know who will see the rewards, if any, from the selling off of these assets. Will the workers or consumers benefit, or will venture capitalists be the real beneficiaries? We certainly do not know if the Government's strategy will do anything for the 70,000 young people who are forced to leave these shores on an annual basis.

For decades, companies like the ESB have played an important strategic role in the economic development of the Irish State. It has delivered a first class electricity network that is second to none throughout Europe. Over the past ten years, the company has paid €4.3 billion euro to the State in taxes and dividends and, along with Bord Gáis, has delivered a first class energy infrastructure that has created tens of thousands of skilled full-time jobs for generations of workers. Private interests will change this.

In 2009 when the housing market collapsed, ESB Networks, to its great credit, agreed a programme of on-the-job training with FÁS to take on 400 redundant electrical apprentices. This allowed unqualified apprentices to complete their qualifications at a time when the building industry collapsed and their prospects were very bleak. It is exactly this forward-looking kind of intervention by commercial semi-States that can assist in rebuilding the economy. Companies like the ESB are ideally placed to create employment and develop a new skills base that can compete in a 21st century market place.

Historically, semi-State companies drove Irish industry forward and broke new ground when the private sector was too cautious, unable or unwilling to invest or take risks when leadership and vision were needed. Surely now, when families are facing a deepening economic crisis, widespread unemployment, poverty and despair, what is needed more than ever is for social and political leaders and business leaders in the commercial semi-State sector to re-embrace that vision.

We know the Government's plan to dispose of up to €3 billion in State assets and companies over the next few years includes the possible sale of Coillte, to which my colleagues referred. Coillte's estate comprises 1.1 million acres, or 7% of Ireland's land area. Despite this, only 11,000 people are employed in the forestry sector compared with 120,000 in Switzerland, a country half the size.

The Woodland League is calling for an urgent re-evaluation of the State forestry model as part of a national public works programme, involving training for the unemployed and the creation of long-term forestry jobs as "the backbone of a national recovery plan". Will the Government consider the merit of these proposals, which could help stimulate employment?

Ireland's public forest estate has been built up over many years with public resources as a national asset and as an investment in Ireland's future. It makes no sense to sell parts of it off. There are people who need access to Coillte land but nobody seems to be talking about their fears.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions is on record as saying the "sale of state assets threatens to transform companies like the ESB or Bord Gáis into another Eircom [debacle]." It states the Government is disingenuous when it says that it does not intend to sell strategic assets, because clearly the most valuable assets we own - energy transmission and distribution networks - are the most strategic.

Companies, such as the ESB and Bord Gáis, which are profitable and highly strategic, risk being asset-stripped, weakened and undermined by Government policy. I appeal to the Government to think again about the selling of assets.

See this speech in context