Howlin: Up to €1bn from State assets sale to be used for jobs

The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin has said a third, or €1bn, of proceeds of the sale of State assets will be available for re-investment in the economy.

It is hoped €3bn will be raised from the asset sale and the Government has abandoned plans to sell a minority stake in the integrated ESB.

The move is part of the terms of our bailout programme, and was agreed by Cabinet last night.

Mr Howlin outlined what assets the Government intends to sell and revealed that the Government is to proceed with sale of Bord Gais Eireann's Energy business, but not its transmission, distribution or two interconnector systems.

He also said some of ESB's non-strategic power generation capacity is on the table and they will consider the sale of non-land assets of Coillte.

He also said the Government's stake in Aer Lingus will go up for sale "when the price is right".