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IN LIGHT OF the country’s economic crisis, the Government has been discussing the sale of State assets in order to collect revenue – but which assets might be up for grabs – and what is their worth?
In July 2010, the Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan created the Review Group on State Assets and Liabilities, led by UCD economist Colm McCarthy, to advise it on the future of commercial semi-States.
The group’s report recommends the part-privatisation of ESB, RTÉ and CIÉ, and the possible full-privatisation of Dublin Bus and the Dublin Airport Authority, with a view to €5 billion being collected for the State in order to reduce its “very high level of indebtedness”.
Following this, the Government has identified several assets that it considers to be suitable for possible sale – here are the five most likely contenders:
Bord Gáis, which deals with natural gas supplies, is split into two parts: Bord Gáis Energy, which provides products and services (primarily gas and electricity supply) to customers, and Bord Gáis Networks, which develops, operates and maintains the natural gas networks in the country and transports gas on behalf of gas shippers and suppliers. It is the Energy section of the company that has been suggested for sale.
In 2009, the Bord Gáis group returned revenue of €1.349m.
The Government owns 25 per cent stake in Aer Lingus and has considered the possibility of putting this up for sale – however it is thought that this would probably raise just €100 million at present. The Transport Minister Leo Varadkar has indicated that, if the State’s stake in Aer Lingus was to be sold, the Government would seek a way of safeguarding the airline’s 23 valuable slot pairs at Heathrow Airport.
The Review Group cited the net asset value of €1,401,715 in 2009, while the company’s 2010 annual report cites revenue of €1,215.6 million.
Dublin Port is Ireland’s largest sea port and is wholly-owned by the State. The port and its land has most recently been valued at €400 million. Dublin Port says it handles €35 billion per annum in trade going in and out of the port.
The Review Group cited the net asset value of Dublin Port to be €238,270 in 2009. It recommended that Ireland’s ports should be restructured before being considered for sale.
While the Government has earmarked Dublin Port for possible sale, it hopes to secure the best deal for the taxpayer and so says is not planning a so-called “fire sale”.
The State forestry agency, Coillte, is a commercial company operating in forestry, land-based businesses, renewable energy and panel products. It owns more than 445,000 hectares of land – about 7 per cent of the land cover of the country – and employs about 1,100 people.
In 2010, group turnover was €250.4m – an increase of €43.5m within a four year period. The Review Group cited the net asset value of Coillte at €1,207,484 in 2009.
In the case of land-based assets, the Review Group proposed that the state “sell the rights to reap the produce of the land but not the land itself.”
Once the sole supplier of energy in Ireland, the ESB now operates in a competitive marketplace and is composed of several different companies: ESB Networks, ESB Power Generation, ESB Electric Ireland, ESB International and Northern Ireland Electricity.
Last year, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said that the ESB would not be broken up and sold as separate parts but remain as a single entity from which a minority share would be put up for sale.
In 2008, the ESB employed almost 8,000 people and had a revenue of €3.5 billion. The Review Group cited the net asset value of the ESB to be €4,032,150 in 2009.
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How about we sell off the massive reserves of oil and gas off our coasts? Oh wait we gave them away already for F**k all!
Howabout we sell the whole country to the United States?
All our debts get written off in return, we get a stable currency, and US companies get a base in Europe.
We get rid of our politicians, and get a governor. Petrol will be cheap and pickup trucks for everyone and Hulu will work here!
NFL in Croker every week, and Beer for sale at the games as well.
Its all good :-)
The alternative is that we become a small state in the United States of Europe and look forward to 20 years of austerity.
Beware this fiscal compact……..
Well, I’m in!
I thought we were already in the 51st state like the rest of the world?
or we do an Iceland and look after ourselves first? I still don’t think it’s too late for us to do it
The figures look all over the place?
Well, they can sell off the offices of the Department of Finance for a start, as its clear we’ve out sourced their capability to the Germans
Depressing though it is I’m not sure a privatised ESB, Aer Lingus or Bord Gais would make much difference to me, but selling Coillte would be my personal breaking point. The only thing that keeps me sane these days is rambling about the few forested bits of the least-forested country in Europe – even with retaining state ownership of the land, will a privatised forestry environment guarantee the casual access that Coillte offers, or will it be five minutes before ‘health and safety’ and ‘insurance issues’ force citizens firmly out of their trees?
Deeply suspicious how closely Bertie has been involved in that particular plot (let’s call it what it is). Wherever that man has his fingers, you can be sure it’s not in our best interests.
strangely enough you’re the 2nd person I’ve read a comment about Bertie & Coillte – on the Irish times on Thursday a commentator(who I don’t know) stated that Bertie was associated with a Named wealth fund which is poised to buy up Coillte and the commentator reckoned that a deal was ALREADY in place to sell every tree in this country to the Chinese for their manufacturing industry.
We don’t have a clue what’s going on in the backroom deals – we’re completely being screwed again aren’t we?
sheila,
here’s the link to the International Forestry Fund
at first glance at it you’d swear they were an NGO type thing, butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths.
I read the whole site 6 months ago, and if u look carefully, in the small print, they state they are totally private profit making investment firm, and all their warm cozy fluff is just that, BS.
http://www.forestry-fund.com/who-we-are/who-we-are.html
go to the tab for Key People.
That was the wealth fund mentioned!!
that’s frightening
Well done Joseph for that link – EVERYONE should check it out
In case you’re too Lazy to look it’s Bertie
We’re screwed. Govt artificially increased the price of electricity to create competition. How dumb was that?
Now we have ‘competition’ for electricity customers from the state owned gas company.
when do you ever get anything cheap with privatisation. the only ones that gain are share holders. where will the money go if these are sold off ,will our debt be clear . no what we will have is dearer bus ,train and fuel bills and all owned by greedy private firms. wake up people.
I’m living in a country where the whole transport and infrastructure is privately owned. While I can’t say much for the gas and electricity, I know for a fact that the price and service of the transport network makes Ireland’s look like a joke. Privatizing some areas makes sense, like Aer Lingus and CIE. Selling everything doesn’t at all.
The word i have for this is LOOTING nothing else ,people of Ireland wake up
Reads like a longer version of monopoly
too true Noirin; too many “do not go to jail cards” in this whole set up
how about getting rid of the goverment before we end up owing more money. This goverment is going to first bankrupt this county and then destroy our state assets. Only last night I heard that the central bank is printing the punt. but of course the central bank has denied this. no smoke without fire springs to mind. get them out .
The problem with the government, they will give guarantees to whoever buys the assists (just like roads) and our taxes will be supplementing them.
So, we sell all of or a majority of these states and we suddenly find out private companies run our essential services. So in the end; EU runs our budgeting mechanism, global corporations run our ports, airline carriers, trains, energy supply and so forth. So which part of Sovereign nation are we? But don’t fear, we will still pay taxes for a Government that runs nothing and past ministers and officials whose pensions will need to be paid, which effectively make up the large part of our taxes, as everything else will be privatised!
Aodhan sorry you’re wrong – even it EVERYTHING was sold, we’d still be borrowing for the next 20years to pay off the bank debt + interest (plus all the things you mentioned) ;-)
our taxes wouldn’t even make a dent on that
I was more hinting at, if everything else was run by global corporations and our tax policies were planned and agreed for by German parliaments we would effectively be a non-sovereign state but a mere colony in EU! Therefore taxes would primarily be paying state officials pensions! Everything else would be owned and managed by external entities! All agreed, our debts will run for next 40 years min. So do we default and get some control and rid ourselves of center right FG/Lab government!
sorry Aodhan – missed your hint …………..I agree completely with your conclusion (unfortunately)
People of Ireland:
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE take to the street in protest (against the whole big picture, not just this)
we are going to end up as a “distant parish” in europe that’ll be thrown the odd bone…..
And the most frightening thing is that it’ll be run by big business by then, NOT EVEN by politicians (who wouldn’t care about us anyway) and their first priority will ALWAYS be the bottom line.
to everyone that said we should sell off everything:
I don’t know if any of you are old enough to remember this, but air lingus (as an example) was sold and renationalised (at great expense each time to the Irish taxpayer) at least 2 times that I can remember (when it was in danger of being closed down due to losses)
Irish Steel – another example – sold to the one of the richest foreign (Indian as it turned out) business men in the world – Ispat – he went on to asset strip it – sold everything at huge profit – and then left a mess in Cork harbour that is still there today and still hasn’t been cleaned up (and we’re talking noxious dangerous cancerous chemicals) – that’s going to cost millions to clean up
2 of the above examples – and again here we go – just remember IT’LL ALWAYS be the taxpayer that pays/loses out in the end
and need i even mention “eircom”
Roll up, roll up. Ireland’s for sale. Everything must go.
all should be sold with the exception of two – Bord na Mona and Coillte. these two assets have much more value than simply monetary value. both look after sensitive ecosystems. private companies couldn’t be trusted to maintain these areas.
Sell the lot of them. This country is being ripped off by the entitled semi-state classes.
Please sell the Seanad..
Very careful consideration need’s to be taken into account
when deciding which assest’s need to be sold (If any ) , once the deed is done it can’t be undone if it is considered at a later date that it was a mistake to do so ……
The way they value stuff, makes us worth less than we owe.
Sell RTE, Bord Gais and ESB, but keep control of the networks. Sell air lingus, DAA. Any thing with importance or land should be kept ie coilte, Dublin port.
Definitely keep Dublin Port
The Government won’t sell RTE: Their mouthpiece of propaganda!
We should only sell any state asset that’s costing the taxpayer’s too much money.
Each EU/IMF bailout programs for Greece/Ireland/Portugal tells each country sell all the “family silver” or no bailout.I think theirs a conflict of interests behind the scenes because private buyers are rubbing their hands because of low prices these assets are currently at.
You can see this happen in Greece with all their state assets in the hands of the Germans
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304906004576369572348921238.html.
Why can’t their be a 50/50 private and state ownership on these assets or some kinda lease?
If these are sold then six months down the road price hike’s will happen.
Our government is already ruled by Brussels,Now sticky handed foreign investors are going to OWN our most important infrastructure making them nothing more then money making machines for the rich shareholders.
We have been invaded by an invisible force because in the space of 5 years now our government is nothing more then a house of representatives for the EU and our infrastructure soon to be owned by the mega rich.
Things don’t happen by mistake and especially when the same thing is happening in Ireland/Greece and Portugal.
Sell RTE, and get rid of the scam that is the license fee.
Has anybody seen the documentary “the shock doctrine”? Looks to be happening here!
Dead right Rossa. Read it or look it up online lads.
The reality is when these assets are sold off prices will rocket as the state will no longer subsidise them . For example if they Privatise C.I.E where does that leave the bus pass. What about the Licence fee for RTE.Some of these assets are loss making so where does that leave us. Buyers will want to buy them at a bargain.
Wake up to the shock doctrine people. Governments use times of crises to do things that under normal circumstances people would rebel against, but because they’re in shock it’s less of shock anyway, if you get me. Think of the events after 9/11 when america was in shock and bush introduced Patriot Act, invaded Iraq with no evidence of wmd’s, deregulated everything from big pharma to the fed- then after bombing the hell out of Iraq, they looted them by opening the oil companies to foreign investment under the guise of economic development. And now we’re being looted of our assets. Knowing these tactics is the first step to combatting them. Read The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein.
Or look up the message of it online. It’s happening and our government is either buying the scare tactics or they’re trying to sell it in to us.
Look it up on the web. While you still can…
Which one is losing the most money should be the one to be sold. How about CIE and Dublin bus privatize the transport industry it “might” improve the services or at least part privatize and get some competition in pricing. Although what usually happens is the price increases, I mean look at esb airtricity and bord Gais which is cheapest again? They all up there prices at the same time now. How about getting an investigation into how are bond interest rates rose so high? Who was behind this?
I’m not sure about CIE though, when they privatised British Rail years ago, train fares went through the roof.
still can’t get my head around why so many people think privatisation is good. private enterprise is only out to make money. so logically most state assets don’t make a profit. that’s why we pay taxes. So we will end up without doubt paying more for these services. M50 a classic example. Ryan air another.cheap flight add the taxes cheap?
Kenny will do as his idol Thatcher, loot Irish national assets to sell to his pals at knock down prices. Quite a retirement package with a guarantee of a paid place on the board no doubt.
Landing slots at heathrow are worth £30 mil a piece on the open market (ref. continental purchase 2010).. Aer Lingus has 23 pair… The government own 25% of tha airline or approx 6 slots… Value £180 mil, why would you sell that for €100 mil?
Are it’s pension and other liabilities that big? Or is it a depressed asset?
good point well made Andrew
Remember when Willie Walsh wanted to buy Air lingus and FF wouldn’t let him because of some nit picking on their part …… It’d have been so interesting to see what he’d have done with it – he did go on to run BA so he must’ve been well capable.
Walsh spoke to Last Word a few weeks ago on this, and he did mention the pension pot as being a huge hindrance alright.
Eh who has the money to buy?
kenny should not have this remit it to important . I know they were elected not by me I may add. but this kind of issue should go to a vote. people we have the technology we can rebuild it .
we ARE worth less than we owe. thats the problem. we should only privatise the areas making the state most money through sale. i dont think the state should provide energy anyway.
SELL, SELL, SELL. We need to get some competition into this country. The price of everything seems to be falling except for government controlled cartels. Public transport is ineffective, expensive and badly needs to be shaken up. Electricity and gas are too expensive with no regulation which is killing jobs. While they’re selling they should also sell all their road maintenance equipment seeing as they’re not able to use it. Also sell off about 75% of the councilors and politicians.
There’s so many errors in the way the figures are written in the article its funny. For example the net assets of aerlingus are said to be 1.3 million roughly but then the revenue 1.4 billion. Really could you at least read over the article prior to posting it on a national forum. The thousands of millions, billions, omissions of millions at the end of number etc makes the whole article lose any validity!
the list above is good. I’d break up CIE and sell off Irish Rail and Dublin Bus and keep Bus Eireann in public hands as it provides essential services and has private competition already keeping prices low. the condition of the sale of IE and BAC should be that the existing routes should be kept in the private contract.
I wouldn’t have much faith in an article that can’t distinguish its millions from its billions.
Either way the non performing assets should be sold off because they are an unnecessary burden on the state.
The people in charge have had long enough to turn them around so now it’s time to allow the private sector to move in and clean out the entire deadwood and bring some young ambitious and enthuastic fresh blood and ideas to their boardroom tables.
You left out The National Lottery!
@Martin
I don’t think the IFSC is for sale?
have your say