Gavin Mendel-Gleason

The Workers’ Party have said that the decision of energy company Viridian to close its remaining electricity generating plant in Dublin is further proof that privatisation is not working for Irish consumers or taxpayers and the party has called for the Viridian plants to be taken over by the ESB.

Workers’ Party Dublin North West representative Gavin Mendel-Gleason said that coming in the wake of the Carillion collapse and the resultant crisis at six schools being constructed under Public Private Partnerships, the pull-out of Viridian was another sorry lesson for the government’s privatisation policy.

Mendel-Gleaon said: “Privatisation is a policy built on sand.  It assumes that private corporations have the same commitment to consumers as publicly operated ones when the reality is that the likes of Viridian and Carillion have only one bottom line – their profit margins.  How many more Viridians and Carillions do we have to experience before our government sees that privatisation and PPP is a recipe for disaster”.

The Workers’ Party representative called for the two Viridian plants to be taken over by the ESB, and that the state company should take over all remaining operators as soon as possible and when their licences are up for renewal.

Gavin Mendel-Gleason said: “Despite the constant propaganda to the contrary, the ESB has been the most successful company in the history of the state.  It electrified the entire country and consistently turned a profit which went back to the public coffers. When we were bailing out banks and other private companies, the ESB was still paying dividends which were helping to build homes, run hospitals and clear off the national debt.  It is a no brainer that the ESB should be restored as the sole provider and regulator of electricity in this state”