Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Question 247: To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his assessment of the likely impact on investors demand for State assets from the ongoing Eurozone crisis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30781/12]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The House will be aware from my announcement of22 February that the Government has decided to pursue the sale of a number of State assets. It is foreseen that transactions will commence in 2013. Under this State asset disposal programme, separate sale processes and timelines will apply to each individual transaction. My Department, supported by the NewERA unit of the National Treasury Management Agency, which is acting as the Government's financial advisor in respect of the programme, will evaluate market conditions on a continuous basis up to the launch of each transaction to ensure that likely market appetite is understood before any process is commenced. In this regard, I would point out that, despite ongoing turbulence in financial markets, transactions continue to complete across the Eurozone, including, for example, SSE's recent purchase of Endesa's Irish electricity generation assets.