THE GOVERNMENT was determined it would not relinquish control of any strategic assets without appropriate safeguards being put in place, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin said.

“In this context there is a need to seek to reach an informed view as to what is actually strategic and essential to the national interest,’’ he added.

Mr Howlin said while he acknowledged it could certainly be argued that ownership and control of electricity, gas and other utility transmission networks such as water was strategic, it was questionable whether outright State ownership was required.

He said his department and the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources were jointly chairing an interdepartmental group which was considering the best approach to the sale of a minority stake in the ESB, taking into account energy policy and regulatory, legal, financial and economic considerations.

The group would report back to the Government by the end of November with a recommendation, he added. “No decision has yet been taken on the size of the minority stake to be sold or the amount to be generated from the sale,’’ Mr Howlin said.

Fianna Fáil deputy leader Éamon Ó Cuív said the minute the Government sold a stake, no matter how small, someone on the board involved could force every shareholder to say the return on capital was more important than any national interest.

Mary Lou McDonald, Sinn Féin, said there was a need to address the €15 billion budgetary shortfall. The issue confronting the State was whether the sale of assets, in whole or in part, assisted or hindered the process in the long term. “Sinn Féin is of the opinion that State assets must be kept in public ownership,’’ she added.