Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Sinn Féin's position on the sale of State assets has been well voiced over months and years. Selling what is left of the family silver does not amount to a strategy and it is a decision of a Government that is all out of ideas. We know the sale of State assets is a policy being pursued by the Fine Gael and Labour Party Government and not one that is enforced by the troika, as the Minister and his colleagues would have us believe. Representatives of the troika have told us categorically that this is a decision of the Government alone.

To sell a successful, self-financing commercial State company such as Bord Gáis Energy makes no sense, either in good times or bad. The Minister is aware that last year Bord Gáis Energy had gross operating profits of €79.4 million, up from €44.3 million in 2011. The profitability of the company is not in question. Instead of flogging the last of the State's wealth for a quick buck, the Government should make commercial State companies part and parcel of the solution for creating jobs and delivering growth. The myth that privatisation and deregulation bring automatic improved competitiveness and efficiency has been well and truly debunked internationally.

Ireland is a small, open economy, and State control of strategic and valuable assets is central to the future prosperity of the economy and society. Our arguments against this course of action by the Government have been well rehearsed, not least in this Chamber, and it is now time to turn our attention to what will happen after the Government's sale of Bord Gáis Energy. What will happen to the workers who wish to remain as employees of Bord Gáis? If these hundreds of workers wish to return to their original employer, what will become of them? I ask this because I questioned the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform on the fate of the An Post National Lottery Company.

He told the Dáil that the welfare, transfer and safeguarding of lottery personnel must and will be encompassed in the process. Unfortunately, this has not come to pass. Will the Minister of State clarify what discussions have taken place with the workforce over the past number of months? What options have been presented to employees? Has the Government along with management simply served up a fait accomplito them? If they wish to remain Bord Gáis employees, will the Government support them in that ambition? For those who are forced to make the move, will their current terms and conditions be maintained? What will become of their pensions? What about the Bord Gáis pension scheme in its totality? If workers move to the new company, will they be forced to park their original pension scheme and join a new scheme? What impact will this have on the workers transferring to the new company but also for the current pension scheme? Have those matters been considered? By any stretch, a potential loss of 300 contributors to the pension pot could have a significant impact. Has the Government measured that and considered it? Crucially, what impact might that have on the dividend to the State from the sale? Has the Government thought this out? Ministers have front-loaded their public commentary on the revenues and the amount that will be taken in from the sale of this State asset. They have boasted that some of the money will be used for job creation with the balance used to pay down debt, which is truly outrageous. Has the Minister quantified other matters within the margin, not least the pensions issue?

He has quite a challenge on his hands with the ESB's pension fund crisis. The ESB group of unions will present their case to Members next Wednesday at an all-party briefing in Leinster House. I hope the Minister and his colleagues might set aside some time to hear what the ESB workers have to say.

What of Bord Gáis's debts? The company has sought external assistance in the reorganisation of its capital structure, including its €2.2 billion debt. My understanding is that this debt will have to be divided between the energy and networks businesses. What will the ratio be? What impact will that have on the State's dividend? The ESB's dividend to the State from the sale of its 50% share in two power generation plants in Britain and Spain will only be paid after the company first pays down some of its own debts. Presumably, this will also be the case with Bord Gáis.

What will happen to the Bord Gáis brand? Will the brand be retained by the remaining holding in State ownership or will it be sold along with the retail side of the business currently known as Bord Gáis Energy?

The OECD report on privatising State-owned enterprises has reflected that restructuring and privatisation result in job losses even in cases where sectors are expanding and the economy is creating new employment opportunities. Has this been considered by the Government? Reports indicate that the sale of Bord Gáis Energy could generate proceeds of between €1 billion and €1.5 billion, although more recent estimates have been towards the lower end of that range. The Minister of State and his colleague have boasted about this revenue and the fact that half of this money will been used to fund employment projects and the other half to write down debt. How does he defend selling the family silver and using half of the proceeds to write down the debt, which any citizen on the street will remind him is not the people's debt? Experience in other European jurisdictions, for example, Greece has shown that the sale of state assets has not returned the expected proceeds and projections have continuously been revised down considerably. My fear is that this sale, about which the Government boasts, will have a similar result in this jurisdiction.

I have put a series of questions that are of concern to company employees regarding the pension fund and questions about the extent to which the Government has measured impacts, particularly on the dividend to the State from the newly cannibalised company. I hope the Minister of State has answers to them because in selling off part of a successful commercial semi-State company, the Government parties are taking a step into the largely unknown. I hope they have properly considered and measured the consequences of their action.

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