James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Half of the proceeds of the sale will be available to fund commercial employment enhancing projects, with the other half going towards paying down our debt. When the Government took office two and a half years ago, most of the proceeds from the sale of State assets were to be used to pay off the debt, but the Government has negotiated that half of the proceeds would be used for job creation projects.

The Gas Regulation Bill will see Bord Gáis Energy split into two companies, with one company taking control of the physical gas network, while the other will take control of the energy business which could be sold by the end of 2013. I hope the economic climate will be conducive. The last thing anyone wants is a fire sale which would serve no purpose. We want to get all we can for our State assets in order to see consequent benefits for communities and job creation.

The Bill address legislative amendments to allow for and facilitate the sale of Bord Gáis Energy which is the retail arm of Bord Gáis. The Bill will impact on the group structure of Bord Gáis Energy, given that it provides for the restructuring of Bord Gáis by establishing a gas network subsidiary company. Bord Gáis Energy is a major energy provider, supplying gas and electricity to homes, industries and businesses throughout the island of Ireland. Its main stakeholder is the Government through the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. Bord Gáis Energy is a division of the Bord Gáis group, operating in both the Republic of Ireland under the Bord Gáis Energy brand and in Northern Ireland under the Firmus Energy brand. It is a dual-fuel, all-island business serving over 825,000 gas and electricity customers.

The Bill addresses the technicalities to assist in the sale of Bord Gáis Energy and does not deal with the wider policy issues such as consumer protection. There is no published regulatory impact analysis to accompany the Bill and no detailed analysis of the potential impact of the sale of Bord Gáis Energy. We need to be cautious with this sale and look closely at the possible implications for the customer. Lessons should be learned from the sale of Eircom, the privatisation of which ended in a very dismal fashion. It was bought by private business for short-term profit. Regulation was lacking and many Members still remember these events. Various owners were allowed to load Eircom with debt so long as the company met technical standards and the markets were happy to keep lending. A successful privatisation is not about looking at how much money a sale raises, rather it is a case of considering how good a service can be provided by the private sector and how to ensure it delivers.

We need to look after the public. The people of Longford-Westmeath are being bullied by the wind farm development process, of which the Acting Chairman, Deputy Robert Troy, will be aware. They are anxiously awaiting wind energy review guidelines which were to be published in the third quarter of this year, but they have not been released as yet. We need to ensure the process is fair for the men, women and families involved and it is my job to look out for them. From what I have seen thus far, many aspects of the process have not been fair. For example, I am not sure if the Minister, Deputy Pat Rabbitte, is aware of hidden clauses which have been found in contracts signed by farmers whose land is to be used for the construction of wind turbines. We need clarity on the issues involved. For example, people have mentioned to me that a clause in the contract states the farmer who has leased what he or she thought was a hectare of land for the construction of the turbine has, in fact, also relinquished his or her right to sell on his or her land to whomever he or she pleases or, in some cases, subsequently use it as farmland. If this is true, then we have a major problem on our hands. This is an example of an issue that needs clarification and there are many similar issues with regard to the wind turbine process. It would take an experienced solicitor to find these hidden clauses in the contracts. It is a disgrace that hard-working farmers who are the backbone of the economy are subjected to this trickery from big corporations which have been contracted to build the wind turbines. A public consultation process will begin in the next weeks and the big corporations will attempt to address people's concerns about the plans for their land.

See this speech in context