Austin Deasy
Question:156 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Finance the projected savings to the taxpayer per annum, if any, if the commercial State and semi-State bodies are privatised. [4182/00]
Written Answers. - Privatisation of State Bodies.
In general terms, when the sale, in whole or in part, of commercial State bodies occurs, the burden on the Exchequer is set to diminish both from the revenue realised from the process itself and the reduced need to inject share capital into the bodies to keep them adequately capitalised. In addition, the economy, and therefore, the Exchequer, stand to benefit from the efficiencies which flow from the release of commercial State bodies from State control to compete in a fully commercial manner in the market place.
However, it is not possible to quantify the exact extent of the savings to the taxpayer from the process of disposing of commercial State bodies. This would be dependent on a wide range of factors, which would include the financial position of individual bodies prior to sale, the interest shown in acquiring them, the method and timing of, and conditions applying to, sale and the circumstances pertaining to the particular sectors of the economy in which individual bodies have been operating.