Michelle Mulherin (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this issue, one which can capture not only our imagination but also that of the public. I can well understand, based on past form and the history of the disposal of State assets, why people can have reservations about what is entailed. When we look back on the history of previous Governments which sold many State assets, it is evident that they had no plan in that they should have ring-fenced some of the moneys secured from their sale to ensure we would have had something in place today, instead of the moneys being scattered to the four winds, which appears to have happened in most instances, with the exception of the €1 billion put into the National Pension Reserve Fund.

In the case of the TSB, ACC, Eircom and Aer Lingus, shares were sold; some were sold in their entirety and at one stage the Central Bank was raided. We have also witnessed the confiscation of dormant account funds. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív, the man who does not want to support the European stability treaty, was instrumental in using the dormant account fund as a slush fund to gain votes in previous elections. There is poor form in the sale of State assets and definitely their sale was not managed in strategically.

However, we are living in times when we have to look at things differently. We simply cannot dismiss something because we have a certain ideology and as we all know, ideologies can evolve as our understanding grows. In the times in which we are living we want to be assured good water quality from an economic and health point of view. We also want energy security, to develop our renewable resources, includindg wind and wave energy projects, and so on. We want to lead the way technologically in order to create jobs, invest in broadband infrastructure and ensure our aviation, transport and health sectors grow. We need investment in infrastructure, whether it be in the grid, broadband infrastructure or the pipes in the ground for water services to ensure people throughout the country will have access to a water supply of uniform quality. Therefore, we have to think differently. Aside from the obligations on us resulting from the IMF's presence here, we can examine investing money, as envisaged under NewERA, to create and build the kind of future we want to allow economic growth to occur.

On the sale of State assets, we need to question if what is being done in the bodies in question is working. Is it right that the ESB should have a dominant position from a power generation point of view which skews the market? Most people who have an appetite to invest here and develop our renewables are in the private sector and at times they are frustrated by the constraints imposed upon them.

With regard to Coillte, on which I had an exchange with the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Pat Rabbitte, yesterday, we should not only consider selling the timber rights but the right to use forestry lands. Hundreds of thousands acres are in the ownership of Coillte in remote areas that would be suited to developing wind farms. We should, therefore, examine the granting of long leases to private industry to develop wind farms on forest sites. As the State would not be involved in developing such facilities, investment capital would not be required, yet we would secure a benefit, the value of which could be released to generate job creation.

The current operations are not working right. Bord Gáis and the ESB are competing with each other in the supply of energy. Last year the Comptroller and Auditor General said that between them these two companies were spending €20 million on marketing. They control 75% of the domestic supply market. All that is happening is that a person knocks on the door of a customer of the ESB to ask him or her to sign up for a Bord Gáis package and a year or two later the ESB asks the same person to sign up for one of its packages. That is not a wise way to spend taxpayers' money. I highlight the fact that Bord Gáis has spent €2.4 million to secure the naming rights of the Grand Canal Theatre. That is not an appropriate activity for a semi-State or State body to be engaged in.

We can get the balance right, safeguard key infrastructure, allow the market to develop and give people a chance in the private sector who want to do something in this country.

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