Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

- - - none of our public utility companies will attract investment. I think a Senator asked what the budget would mean for the ESB. For the first time in three years the ESB has raised money. It was also the first time the Bank of Ireland had raised more than ¤500 million outside the bank guarantee. Allied Irish Banks also raised ¤300 million outside the guarantee. The great advantage of trying to reduce the deficit is that investment will flow into public utility companies through public private partnership.