Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

Agreement was reached with the troika on the sale of State assets and the reinvestment of the proceeds into the economy. That is another example of the Government's successful renegotiation.

The Minister has said there will be no fire sale of non-strategic assets. I welcome that and put it on the record of the House. As Deputy Ferris well knows, the McCarthy report recommended the sale of non-strategic assets. The programme for Government confirmed that the sale of State assets would be used to stimulate growth and create employment. The Minister's proposals meet both of those aims. I welcome the fact that he is not rushing into a fire sale of assets and that he is carefully assessing each asset to ensure that there will not be a fire sale. I commend him on his approach. As the Minister outlined in his speech, it is critical that we achieve the best value for the Exchequer and the taxpayer.

It is clear from the Government's approach that we are going to learn from the mistakes of the Eircom debacle. I hope the members of the Government that was in power such as the then Ministers, Mrs. O'Rourke and Deputy Martin, listen and learn from that. It was a debacle that risked the country's prosperity. As the Minister indicated, the Government will not sell the gas transmission and distribution system or the two gas interconnectors. Unlike Eircom, those two vital pieces of infrastructure will remain in State ownership. As the Minister indicated, when the Government considers the sale of Coillte, the land will not be included. Again, another lesson has been learned from the Eircom case.

Since the Government came to power 12 months ago it has consistently made job creation its focus. We have seen the jobs initiative working this week in my city and county of Cork.

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