State asset sell-off plan 'will be resisted'

Plans to sell off many of the State's assets in order to boost public finances will be firmly resisted, People Before Profit TD for Dun Laoghaire Richard Boyd-Barrett said today.

Speaking after the publication of the McCarthy report, which details how up to €5 billion could be raised through the privatisation of semi-State companies, Mr Boyd-Barrett said the plan was both "scandalous and irresponsible."

"Selling off our public assets is, in fact, robbing the country of precisely the assets we need to get out of this economic mess. If we invested properly in these assets we could provide much-needed jobs, fuel economic growth and ensure continued revenue for the country. Selling them off will provide a once-off payment and is in no way a solution to the problem," he said.

"It makes no sense to give away, in many cases, highly profitable state assets that have the capability to get profit, revenue and employment going which is precisely what is needed for sustained economic growth," he added.

People Before Profit has called for mass popular resistance against any planned sell-off of assets.

Mr Boyd-Barrett said the Government would be fought "tooth and nail" if it attempted to follow-up on the McCarthy report's recommendations.

"The EU-IMF will insist that the money will be spent paying back the bankers and speculators while further cuts will be imposed on the population," he said.

"Our public enterprises should not be privatised but strengthened and developed further," he added.