Given that we are going to be strapped for cash as a country in the coming years, what are peoples thoughts on the Sale of State assets, the big ones to my mind being Bord Gais and ESB,
2 Is now the time to sell
3 What is the potential value
4 If this is a good idea what other companies are available for sale
sell the toll bridge!
oh wait… no
Sell the naming rights to Ireland
“Republic of McDonalds”
This country has been sold of for too small a price.
That’s why we are in the mess we are presently.
Sell Leinster house, we’ve already sold the contents.
I wouldn’t buy any of it, not after Eircom.
I simply do not trust the Irish government, they’ll try to swindle me.
Message comes from on high - Sell state assets to generate cash.
Party cronies start politiking so that they can get their claws in to it.
State assets sold for less than market worth.
The gave away state assets during the boom times too and got nasty little 2 bed apartments in Ongar, D15 in exchange.
But what would the public reaction be if they said we will get €xbn by selling these energy utilities, I think both BGE and ESB are due to announce potential price rises so they wont exactly be loved. Could a nice spin be put on this, and is it a good idea anyway
Republic of Fyffes? 
If the worst came to the worst, and we lost everything ie. multinationals all went home etc, we wouldn’t have very much left worth anything in real terms except ESB and Bord Gais.
I don’t know about Bord Gais, but ESB is a company to be proud of, I think.
It has received a bad reputation in the papers the last few years in the efforts to introduce competition.
But, the FACTS are, consumer prices shot up on the back of this effort. ESB used to charge consumers slightly less than cost, and businesses more to make up. The new competitors DEMANDED that prices be put up, because otherwise, they couldn’t compete. Also, when you go to the UK and see smelly power stations everywhere - here, stations are kind of hidden away…
If we lost everything (touch wood), I think for the most part, we have very good, smart people in ESB who would at least make sure we had power, and work in the interests of the country. I think it would be a big mistake to sell it to the multinationals…
And I reckon, Bord Gais is probably a similar case.
BNM can go hang!
I wouldn’t touch the ESB with a barge pole. It’s riddled with waste and overpaid employees, and blighted by unions. This coupled with a dishonest government (who’ll be doing the selling) is a recipe for disaster. No thanks.
Don’t be silly ARW 
,everyone knows you don’t buy a Politician, you are only ever renting one. They’re only yours until someone with a bigger brown envelope comes along.
They have already decided what army barracks they will close and sell off. The weird thing is who will want to buy them in the current climate??!!
scrap db pensions for the civil service now
I don’t know why anyone in Ireland would consider inviting the government to sell any public assets. They are simply too corrupt to be trusted. That includes the intangibles like the radio spectrum. Look at eircom and Ireland fm, little more than a taxpayer shakedown. It would be better to simply hand the keys over to the developers and the small gang of ‘businessmen’ who already run the place.
Let’s sell assets when they’re worth least and buy assets when they’re most expensive. (preferably to/from our mates).
Genius. (you have to admit)
I don’t trust them to manage the assets either.
utter bull.
Assets if they’re worth anything should be kept not surrendered during the worst market conditions imaginable.
Selling the family silver.
Worse again what we would see is these companies raped to the ground for revenue to the detriment of the country and the benefit of wealthy vultures probably external who will take and take till we’re bled dry and the state has to step back in to ensure the stability of these utilities.
Electricity is too important for the grid to be handed over to the same pirates that ran the banks.
No problem with private organisations selling power to the grid but we must recognise that key infrastructure is effectively underwriten by government which means that no private company will pay what it’s worth because they will never be forced to pay the state a premium to insure against the day it’s taken over when they bugger it up.
selling esb and bord gais would be the equivalent of a craftsman pawning his tools.
anyway what would we ask the private sector to pay? gold bullion or bernake paper?
from a risk reward profit and loss standpoint selling infrastructure for short term cash is bad business for the gov and for us as citizens.