The long term energy security of Ireland, one of UNITE’s supposed goals, requires that the country not be at the mercy of the ESB Unions.

I look forward to UNITE fulfilling its obligation and disbanding in order to protect the country’s energy security. Holding my breath. Not. Hypocrites.

Hard to imagine a less constructive trade union than Unite; almost destroyed BA.

If they strike fire them, there are thousands waiting in the wings… The days of 70,000 k wages for those workers should be gone.

Unions say it’s in the interest of the state for this to be stopped. Yeah, because the unions really care about the rest of us!!!

It is up to the government to ensure that there are no non accidental disruptions of power. UNITE have an obligation to stop threatening never mind acting in a way that will harm the country. It is hard to know if selling part of the ESB is a good idea.

if UNITE do strike (and lets hope not) then the government / ESB leadership needs to deal with them decisively and quickly it cannot be allowed to drag on and disrupt what needs to be done

Minority stake for sale. MINORITY! very little input into the company other than reaping profits! If the government do it right they’ll have built in buy back clauses with the sale contract. The best option is to spin-off the network from the supply company, keep the network and infrastructure and sell the older, least valuable plants or those lacking efficiency. They won’t get much for them but it’s unloading assets for cash! License energy generation that if a plant drops below a certain production level or causes a brown out they get fined. So long as we own the network we can name the terms. Who produces the power is irrelevant!

Remember, to sell something there needs to be a buyer. Who in their right mind is going to buy something that the govt will be expecting boom time prices for. Remember valuations are based on predicted revenue and return on investment, not on assets!!

What a shower of right wingers you all are. The impact of electricity privatisation has been disastrous everywhere it’s been tried – California had numerous blackouts and Auckland was without power for weeks. But never mind all the eejits above would rather cut off their nose to spite the unions’ face. Privatising the ESB is all about paying back private debts run up private banks and there will be no benefit to the country whatsoever in sellling off, probably at a ridiculously low price, invaluable national assets that has the state has spent decades building up into an efficient company that consistently returns a profit to the exchequer.

I fully support UNITE’s stance and wish more unions had the balls and power of electricity workers to fight back against austerity.

We can expect a huge media-led propaganda campaign against the ESB workers in the coming months, which has already begun with dishonest attack pieces against Brendan Ogle, one of the few remaining union leaders with some gumption and a basic ability to stand up for workers’ interests.

I hope the Strike is in support of Ms Teresa TREACY who has been locked for "contempt of court" for nit allowing ESB TO COME IN TO HER LAND IN TULLAMORE OTHEWISE I DO NOT CONDONE YOUR STRIKE