The country’s largest trade union, Siptu, has described the Government’s plans to sell some State assets as “a sad day for the Irish people and a tragedy for the Labour Party”.
The union’s general secretary Jack O’Connor said it was doubtless the Labour Party had managed to minimise the proposed sell-off.
However, he said there was no justification for selling the assets, especially in the present "depressed" market conditions.
"There is no silver lining in the concession that some of the money can be used for job creation. There is no need to sell the assets of the Irish people at bargain basement prices to generate money for jobs.
"It is open to the Government to establish an enterprise-infrastructure investment fund of upwards of €5 billion through a combination of some of the residue of the National Pension Reserve Fund, monies incentivised from the private pensions fund by exemption from the levy and resources from the European Investment Bank," Mr O'Connor said.
"We have been led to believe that such a proposition is under consideration and no rational reason has been advanced to explain why it cannot be done."
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions said the Government’s plans represented a "bad deal for Ireland". It said the moves could see the country lose control over the national energy sector at a time when energy security was paramount.
Congress general secretary David Begg said that while there was a small element of relief that the scale of the sell-off was more limited compared to previous privatisation plans, it was still a bad deal for Ireland.
"At its most basic, we are parting with assets whose value has been built up over many generations just to pay off the debts of reckless gamblers and speculators," he said. "Instead of harnessing our state sector to the aim of job creation and national recovery, we have positioned ourselves on the slippery slope of privatisation. Partial privatisations usually presage a full-scale sell off. Aer Lingus is proof of that."
Mr Begg said the position was “made far worse by the fact that over time we will potentially compromise, or lose control over our national energy sector – when energy security is a paramount global concern”.
"There is an element of Groundhog Day to this. A previous government sold Eircom just as the digital age dawned and Ireland has been playing catch up ever since. The company was asset-stripped and wrecked. Now when energy security and energy generation are critical it is proposed to sell off, break up and weaken our energy sector. Strategically, it makes little sense."
