Govt agrees to sell ESB stake

[eamo]

Pat Rabbitte most certainly has a brain. You would be advised not to underestimate it.

Yep, he is very smart and sharp. Smart and sharp enough to realize he has become what he once despised, a lackey to the ruling class. He is sounding hollow and sad these days.

[Griska]

Yep, he is very smart and sharp. Smart and sharp enough to realize he has become what he once despised, a lackey to the ruling class. He is sounding hollow and sad these days.

Agreed.
But by all accounts he's propping Gilmore up when it comes to the cabinet.
Gilmore, frankly, is out of his depth and Rabbitte is naturally at ease with the Blueshirts.

[Baron von Biffo]

Pat Rabbitte most certainly has a brain. You would be advised not to underestimate it.

McCreevy was always seen as a PD in FF clothing.
Rabbitte has long been seen as something of a Blueshirt in DL/Labour clothing.

He was so close to FG during his ill fated term as Lab leader that I half expected him to do a Dimples.

[TotalMayhem]

He was so close to FG during his ill fated term as Lab leader that I half expected him to do a Dimples.

He's waffling on Prime Time now.

"An integrated electricity company"... "compatible investor"



The whole lot is worth 8 billion. That's what? Like 1/4 of the debt incurred by Seánie Fitz and his sh!thole bank alone?

Selling Aer Lingus would pay for just one week of interest to be paid on our debt?

It's a joke.

[Dr. FIVE]

ESB bit followed the middle classes in trouble.

[PaddyJoe]

I noticed that Colm McCarty made it very clear on Prime Time that he didn't think any ESB sell off (or any state asset sell off, for that matter) should take place at the moment on the grounds that it would constitute a fire sale.
Probably the only thing himself and Joe Higgins agree on

[Baron von Biffo]

I noticed that Colm McCarty made it very clear on Prime Time that he didn't think any ESB sell off (or any state asset sell off, for that matter) should take place at the moment on the grounds that it would constitute a fire sale.
Probably the only thing himself and Joe Higgins agree on

So now Rabbitte finds him pushing a privatisation that even a right-wing crackpot like McCarthy thinks is a bad idea. Are we looking at politics in a mirror?

[PaddyJoe]

So now Rabbitte finds him pushing a privatisation that even a right-wing crackpot like McCarthy thinks is a bad idea. Are we looking at politics in a mirror?

The former PeeDees must be breaking their holes laughing over a few gin and tonics.

[Baron von Biffo]

The former PeeDees must be breaking their holes laughing over a few gin and tonics.

And lamenting their failure to protect their right flank from Labour.

[Theresa]

Seriously though - what are we going to DO about it???

Treason - what's the penalty? Has it been updated since 1916 or can we go stone him now???

[PaddyJoe]

It's all getting a bit restive over at the ESB:

The talks ended without agreement after each side rejected proposals put on the table by the other.
Their failure to find a resolution now means that management may not pay profit share and performance-related bonuses due to staff under existing agreements.
As a result, secretary of the company’s group of unions, Brendan Ogle, said yesterday that it has advised management that it is “now in a dispute situation and will consult with their members over the coming period in this regard”.
The ESB group of unions, made up of the ESB Officers’ Association, Siptu, Unite and the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union, said that management intended not to honour the existing agreements, under which there are outstanding payments due from the €340 million profit that the company reported earlier this year.
However, the company argued yesterday that the process was still ongoing

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...308468983.html

[PaddyJoe]

This has flown under the radar. Ye olde bank holiday news dump

THE Government has ordered the ESB to raise €400m by selling power generation assets over the next two years, the Irish Independent has learned.

The order to the ESB board was made just as the latest "troika mission" by EU and IMF officials was drawing to an end. The sale is part of a wider disposal of state assets ordered by the troika.

The latest news comes after the ESB provoked controversy earlier in the week when it reported a huge surge in profits just weeks after hiking prices for ordinary customers.

In an extraordinary development, news of the plan to sell €400m worth of state assets was announced in a note to the bond markets, but was not communicated to the public by the ESB itself or the Government.

Instead, the revelation is contained in an "investor update" for bondholders published without fanfare in a sub-section of the ESB's corporate website.

http://www.independent.ie/business/i...s-3276046.html

[DCon]

This has flown under the radar. Ye olde bank holiday news dump

http://www.independent.ie/business/i...s-3276046.html

Digitricity?

[PaddyJoe]

Digitricity?

To be honest I don't really get it. The idea seems to be to sell some of the power stations

The investor update states: "The Government has now, in a request communicated to the ESB Board today (October 24, 2012), asked ESB to develop proposals for the sale of some non-strategic generation capacity, with the specific objective of delivering special dividends to the Government targeted at up to €400m by the end of 2014."

The ESB has 13 major power stations at home and abroad including Ardnacrusha, Moneypoint, Coolkeeragh, Dublin Bay Power, Aghada, Poolbeg, Corby in the UK and Amorebieta in Spain.

Any move to sell power stations could be jeopardised by opposition from unions which have threatened to ballot for industrial action over any disposal of plants employing hundreds of workers.

The UNITE union has vowed to fight any "break-up" of the company.

The €400m target for ESB sales is part of the €3bn the State must raise by selling off assets in order to meet the demands of the troika.

I can't quite see what potential purchasers get out of buying the power stations.
Could it be a sale and lease back agreement where they charge us for the use of these stations for 50 years or so?