Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

With regard to Senator D'Arcy's commentary about an amalgamation of clean energy bodies, it is not envisaged that we will set up another State company in the energy sector. The intention is to have one vertically integrated company offering a variety of options in terms of its generating capacity so that it is not dependent on any one component part. If it is a State company, it is important that it has a generating capacity that is as diverse as possible so that it is not totally dependent on one source of generation.

Senator Byrne talked about an inventory of all State assets. That is a good question, because we did not even have an inventory of all State property, which I instructed the OPW to obtain early on and which has been put together. I daresay there are properties and so on that may not be known in a general sense but only to some agencies and so on. I know from colleagues in the other House that even to get a list of all State agencies is very difficult, because many State agencies were established 50 years ago and never formally abolished. They exist notionally but not in reality. The Senator makes a fair point.

Senator Bacik spoke about the timeframe for sale. As I indicated previously in my reply to Senators Barrett and Quinn, we have done due diligence in that we have tested the market, and we know there is a robust and healthy interest in the product, if one likes, that we are putting on the market. That will need to be tested, but I envisage the realisation of significant resources for the State next year.