Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)

I am reminded of the cliché about marrying in haste and repenting at leisure. We have had decisions that were made rather hastily usually just based on figures and not considering the impact on lives. I am very glad about the repenting - the reversal on the proposed cuts to DEIS schools and today's announcement that the people will be given the chance to vote in a referendum on the fiscal compact.

The review group that analysed State assets did so purely from a financial perspective without considering the social or environmental costs, which need to be taken into account. Selling State assets seems to be part of the IMF solution to economic recovery which has been seen in other countries such as Argentina. Selling State assets means privatisation. We have had the debacle of the privatisation of waste services in Dublin recently whereby a very suspect auditing company got the decision to make. The contract was given to a company that had been prosecuted and found guilty of charges under the EPA and there was a very definite lack of accountability in the contract. The aim seems to be to raise €3 billion from the privatisation programme with €2 billion being used to pay down the debt and €1 billion to assist in boosting employment. However, if the debt burden is €119 billion, €2 billion will not make much difference and there could be a wiser investment for it.

In some of our State companies there is a culture of obscene salaries with dreadful expense accounts and allowances. Changing that is one aspect of privatisation I would welcome. At times State companies have been guilty of poor service with high prices. Even though these companies are being presented as being self-financing, they have been heavily developed through public funding, not with a view to selling them off to the highest bidder - an invisible bondholder, some offshore tax-evading tycoon or a foreign oligarch. There are examples in Portugal at the moment. While I know the Chinese are our best friends, there are issues with their investments in some developing countries.

The State assets need to be considered on more than their market and economic values. There are strategic elements attached to Bord Gáis Éireann and the ESB that are vital to our energy security, particularly in the development of alternative energy sources such as wind power. I share the Woodland League's concerns concerning our forests - the access, the carbon value of the trees and the possibilities for a national works programme. I hope selling off our shareholding in Aer Lingus will not prove to be short-sighted. If the privatised companies fail, who will bail them out? Will they come back to the Government again? Festina lente.

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