Sean Barrett (Independent)

I welcome the Minister and support his statements this afternoon. This is a very necessary part of setting the economy to right on foot of the problems that date from 2008 and before. The McCarthy report, on these issues, was launched on 24 April last year and is, therefore, approximately a year in circulation. It contains much useful information on the companies that the Minister has been talking about. The preface states: "Our basic message is that, given the over-borrowed nature of the state's balance sheet, asset disposal is inevitable."

The Minister chose this as his theme earlier and I agree with him. It is also an opportunity to consider where there is entrepreneurship and initiative and who is not performing up to the required standard, particularly at this time. There is a series of criticisms in pages 17 to 29 of the McCarthy report implying that, from 2008 to 2010, State company debt more than doubled. The overall profitability has sharply deteriorated since 2007. The report refers on page 29 to the lack of a dividend culture. There were, therefore, some non-performing staff whose circumstances we must consider.

On reading page 18 of the report, I noted some State monopolies have overindulged in mass market advertising which cannot be justified by reference to commercial requirements. To use one of the Minister's phrases, "capture" was being attempted by hiring large PR departments. It is interesting that the McCarthy group refers to this.

Now that I am in the presence of the Acting Chairman, who is from the Kingdom, it is worth noting that when Mr. Mark Clinton sold the Dairy Disposal Company in 1974 to Mr. Denis Brosnan and company, it was worth £1.15 million. Last week, it was worth €5.9 billion on the stock exchange. It is a privatised company that has gone on to serve this country, its shareholders and customers worldwide absolutely splendidly. It has also served the people of Kerry who invested money in it.

The Irish Continental Line was referred to by Senator D'Arcy. It had to be shut down because it engaged in irresponsible leasing deals with a gentleman in Hong Kong. Its successor company is currently worth just under €400 million and it is not the annual menace to the public finances that the former company was.

With regard to the Ryanair shareholding, Ryanair is worth €6.4 billion, 12 times more than Aer Lingus, which was the airline we had when we had a monopoly. The identification of State companies with a desire to have a monopoly and influence public policy and regulators unduly must be faced up to.

We have raised approximately €8.5 billion, it is estimated. Mr. McCarthy referred to €8.2 billion. In his report, he did not include, but referred to, the receipt of approximately €250 million. That is extremely valuable. The adjustment up to the time Mr. McCarthy was writing accounted for a figure of €20 billion. We, therefore, got 40% off by the disposal of assets. Life for Members of Parliament, including Ministers, and taxpayers would have been tougher had we not raised the €8.5 billion. It is useful.

One of the views put forward under the Culliton report was that the State should have a moving portfolio of assets and should not get stuck in a sector and be captured by the management at a very high costs. Some managers earn what the Taoiseach earns. We should have a moving portfolio and seek new investments all the time to generate the job creation capacity about which the Minister was talking.

If, on the island of Ireland, Larne port, which is privately owned, is the most efficient, one can learn lessons therefrom. Is it worth thinking about the privatisation of some of the ports? They will compete because we have enough of them. Mr. McCarthy recommended Rosslare port for privatisation.

The same applies to airports. There are enough airports to compete with each other in the United Kingdom and there are investors. The Senators from Clare have asked whether there is any future for Shannon Airport under current arrangements and whether it can be sold separately, with the debt transferred to Dublin? Will Dublin Airport Authority, the Aer Rianta complex, sink under the weight of the debt? I propose to the Minister that he consider the separate sales of Cork and Shannon airports on condition that they compete, and perhaps the separate sale of one of the terminals in Dublin in the hope it might produce price competition between the two terminals. There is excess capacity at Dublin Airport.

The privatisation of the telecommunications company Eircom is regarded from time to time as an example of privatisation that did not work. It is worth noting what Mr. McCarthy said about that. His report reads: "The majority of those states that currently out-rank Ireland in international comparative exercises on broadband penetration and speed also privatised their incumbents in the telecoms market, in some cases earlier than Ireland did, and these private entities delivered the necessary infrastructure investment." I have no objection that is based on the fact that Eircom was sold for more than it was worth subsequently. It is about time that the State won on some of these deals. Perhaps we sold Eircom to the wrong people, but the same mistakes were not made in respect of other privatised telephone companies. There is an undue nostalgia for the old telephone monopoly, which saw high charges and low levels of technology.

Senators Byrne and Michael D'Arcy referred to open sales and no beauty contests. When the chairman reported, someone suggested - not entirely flippantly - putting the assets on eBay. It would save a great deal of money on tribunal costs.

The privatisation policy has much to contribute and has already contributed €8.5 billion. In general terms, I commend the Minister on what he is trying to do to set the public finances in order.