MINISTER FOR Finance Michael Noonan has said there is no question of any State assets being sold off in the short term because the prices achieved would be far too low in the depressed market.
Mr Noonan confirmed the issue of disposing of State assets formed a central part of yesterday’s discussions between the Government and officials from the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
The troika is conducting its latest quarterly evaluation of Ireland’s adherence to its €85 billion bailout package and will present its findings in Dublin tomorrow.
The Minister moved yesterday to give assurance that there would be no forced sell-off, or “fire sale”, of State assets.
“I have been speaking to the troika already on this issue. It is not anything that is going to cause difficulty. There is no great urgency. There are assets being sold through banking systems all over Europe at present, so it is not a good time to sell, and we don’t want to have fire sales. And the troika certainly are not going to force us into the sale when the price is low,” he said ahead of yesterday’s Cabinet meeting.
Asked about the inclusion of Bord Gáis, Aer Lingus and Coillte on the list, he said the list that best informed the State was that contained in a report compiled by the group chaired by economist Colm McCarthy.
Separately, a large delegation from the technical group met representatives of the troika as part of its latest evaluation of the bailout programme.
Seven members of the group, comprising Independents and TDs from the United Left Alliance, met a team of eight officials drawn from the troika. The meeting, which lasted about an hour and 20 minutes, was the first involving the technical group.
The group’s whip, Catherine Murphy, said the meeting had been useful and in many ways established the ground rules for future discussions.
She said the troika had placed emphasis on members of the group producing evidence-based facts to back up arguments. This would allow more flexibility by the troika in its overall approach.
The group comprised Ms Murphy, Stephen Donnelly, Shane Ross, Mick Wallace, Mattie McGrath, Richard Boyd Barrett and Clare Daly.
The group raised questions about the sustainability of the State’s debt, the refusal by European authorities to allow burden-sharing by bondholders, and growth prospects.
It argued that the austerity approach had had a huge impact on the domestic economy and the lives of people.
In a joint statement, Mr Boyd Barrett of People Before Profit and Ms Daly from the Socialist Party said they had challenged the troika on its “doomed” austerity policy and its focus on the privatisation of State assets. They said they had criticised the bodies for protecting senior unsecured bondholders.
“I pointed out that the austerity policy of the past four years and the strike of private investment has destroyed hundreds of thousands of jobs,” said Ms Daly.
Mr Boyd-Barrett said the troika had failed disastrously to stem the deepening economic crisis.