Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In the past week or so, the State received €1 billion in respect of Bank of Ireland. It obtained approximately €400 million from sale of the 4G licence in December. The sale of the national lottery licence could bring in up to €600 million. I can provide an estimate in this regard and be wrong but the Minister must be more careful. I might be correct, however, because no one can yet say what will be the outcome. It must also be noted that the sale of Irish Life is expected to realise €1.3 billion. All of these transactions involved or will involve the sale of State assets but none of that money can be used for job creation. It will only be the proceeds from the sale of Coillte lands and the part-privatisation of Bord Gáis to form Irish Water that can be used for that purpose. Therefore, only 50% of the proceeds from the sale of some State assets will be used for job creation. The Minister made a commitment which I and the public understood to be-----

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