Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I listened to Deputy Joan Collins's contribution and share her concern. I do not have an objection in principle to the provision of quality services by semi-State bodies. The ESB has served the country well from its inception, particularly in the work it carried out between 1946 and 1958 to provide electricity in every village and every townland in rural Ireland. I do not object in principle to the control of water mains by a similar semi-State body but I think of the Government's desire to sell the forest crop, which is opposed by every interest with any knowledge of forestry, and its intention, now pulled back from, to sell the ESB. The Government intended to bring in private money, not by borrowing whereby the State controls the funds, but by introducing private shareholders. Financial return would have become the god. It is a significant worry that we will come back here within two or three years to be told that to raise further money, the Government must privatise Uisce Éireann. There are too many unanswered questions. The Bill should be withdrawn. The Government should think about it again and come back with valid answers to the many questions raised by Deputies.

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