Madam, - Paul Sweeney of Ictu gave us the benefit of his economic insight into the future of the ESB in Monday's Head2Head. I was incredulous at his views, which support the State ownership of an integrated near-monopoly and its protection - this is practically Communist and definitely more suited to the UK of the 1970s or France in the 1980s than the 21st century.
Market forces work! Competition forces each of us to improve and to provide a better service to our customers. Deliberately protecting any commercial entity means we all subsidise that entity. This is bad for the consumer and bad for the ESB - eventually this strategy would have us all in need of protection.
The Minister and the Government must grasp the nettle of reform and get it done, regardless of the threats from the trade unions. A competitive, innovative and profitable power generation industry will be able to adopt the technologies that we need to reduce CO2 emissions.
There is no doubt that ownership and management of the distribution network and power generation must be separated. No company will accept their primary competitor owning the gateway to the customer.
The ESB's future can be assured by being competitive in a global context. They can sell assets in Ireland and purchase assets overseas, thereby creating a truly competitive company with a global presence. Let the ESB put its business model to the competitive test.
Then privatise it. Set the company free from both Government and Ictu interference. - Yours, etc,
CONOR McWADE,
Sandymount,
Dublin 4.