Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister immediately seeks to revert back to 2008, which is the stock answer to any question from this side of the House irrespective of the content of such a question. He spoke about credibility and he wants to refer to previous commitments and statements by members of various political parties. I mentioned what the Minister, Deputy Howlin, said here as recently as May. The Minister, Deputy Rabbitte, made no reference to that comment by the Minister, Deputy Howlin and his commitment that the sale of any ESB asset would not include any generation station in the Republic or on the island of Ireland. If anybody has a credibility problem, it is the Minister in that regard.

On the memorandums of understanding, I quote from a letter from the Minister, Deputy Noonan, after the first visit by the troika. He referred to the Government plan and stated, "It is important that we make effective use of our State assets and, where appropriate, dispose of them to help reduce our Government debt". That was the first occasion on which the sale of State assets was mentioned in the context of paying down debt. Therefore it is the actions of this Government which moved the State's commitment to consider possible privatisation to an ambitious programme which would help reduce Government debt. That is that issue out of the way.

If the Minister wants to have an argument and rerun the last general election campaign to raise the Labour Party's poll rating out of the ashes of 6%, that is his business. However, I am interested in looking after my constituents who asked me to raise this issue today. What commitment can the Minister give my constituents in the workforce on their pension entitlements in the first instance? Has the Government given any consideration to the role Bord na Móna can play after 2019 and 2020? It appears that what is being offered for sale has the benefit of Bord na Móna contracts and PSO commitments up to 2020 and nothing thereafter. If the Minister can answer that question properly and effectively, maybe his credibility can be restored.

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