Just Mary (22 page)

The next semi-state up for our attention in the Department was Telecom, which later became called Eircom. The issue at hand, which had been on the cards for several years previously, was the
proposed flotation of this state-owned company. Two key decisions needed to be taken: firstly, whether the flotation should happen at all and secondly, if so, what the opening share price should
be. We were aware that these were hugely important, momentous decisions, but no one could have predicted what the outcome would be — that the sale of Eircom would become a saga almost
biblical in its implications, soon to be referred to by the critics as ‘the Eircom debacle’. However, those of us who inhabit the grown-up world know that shares go up and shares go
down, and that there is absolutely no guarantee ever that their value will hold or stay consistent.

Throughout 1999, we had numerous meetings on the matter, with Bertie Ahern, Mary Harney, Charlie McCreevy and myself, together with each of our civil service advisors. Finally, after much debate
and toing and froing, the decision was taken at a full Cabinet meeting that Eircom would be floated. I strongly felt it was the correct thing to do. Even once this decision was formally made, there
were many more deliberations before the final steps to put things in motion could be taken.

A very important side issue related to the flotation of the company involved a prior arrangement with the trade unions, which went back some years. In the Fianna Fáil Party manifesto of
1997, we had pledged that if Eircom went to flotation, the unions would be given 14.9 per cent of the share value. Mary Harney of the
PDS
had also been party to this pledge
to the unions. Early on in my time in Public Enterprise, I had been visited in Kildare Street by David Begg, heading up a trade union delegation of the Communication Workers’ Union
(
CWU
), along with their then General Secretary, Con Scanlon. They were very clear that, if the flotation were to go ahead, they were going to call in the government’s
promise. I consulted with Bertie Ahern and Mary Harney, and they confirmed that both Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats were inextricably bound to this earlier commitment.

After numerous further meetings, the only question remaining was what the share price offering should be at flotation. Too high, and the shares wouldn’t sell. Too low, and they would be
given away. This led to many more arguments, debates and another series of discussions. Although this is not generally known even now, it transpired that at one of the last tense meetings on this
issue of thrashing out an equitable, middle-of-the-road price for Eircom, Charlie McCreevy said that his Secretary General would resign if such and such a price was not achieved — and this
would be the price at which we eventually floated. Charlie was quite determined on it because, quite rightly, he did not want to see the government and the country deprived of a fair price.
Ultimately, the billions earned through the sale would go into the National Pension Reserve Fund and so, in an odd way, it is that fund which is now helping to get Ireland out of some of the
banking and financial difficulties in which we find ourselves. What goes around comes around, indeed.

While we at Cabinet debated as to the price, Con Scanlon and his team of advisors for the trade unions in Eircom were busy negotiating the terms and conditions of their 14.9 per cent. Even now,
I recall distinctly the long night when the government vacillated at the very eleventh hour, wondering whether it would go ahead with the flotation at all and what should happen about the union
stake, and so on. David Begg assumed a pivotal role in these discussions, demanding that the promise be fulfilled, and on the night in question, he and his fellow union members did not leave the
government buildings until midnight and they had secured the final guarantee on their 14.9 per cent.

Eircom was floated on the New York Stock Exchange on 8 July 1999. We went there for the flotation and visited the Stock Exchange. I stayed one day and one night, during which time I also had a
meeting with some industrialists who were interested in coming to Ireland. Then I came straight home.

As the months passed, myths grew up and criticism of our handling of the Eircom sale became a very popular bandwagon to be jumped upon. As the figures showed, the share price initially held up
well above the flotation price for over twelve months. When, however, the share value began to fluctuate, as all share prices do, it seemed that ‘the Eircom debacle’ was born. Of
course, as I have since said and will continue to say, it was up to any individual to cash in their shares at any time during the first twelve months if they wished to make a profit. Many people
did, in fact, and made quite a handsome little profit. But for some reason, others thought that they should hold on to their shares and that the price should keep going up and up — and of
course that was never to be. When I now hear David Begg, inter alia, saying from time to time that Eircom should never have been floated, I smile and remember. This is not in any way meant to be
castigatory of David Begg, but I cannot help but recall how hard he pushed for that 14.9 per cent for the trade unions.

By May 2000, condemnation far and wide of the course of action taken by us on Eircom had reached a kind of fever pitch, and so I was in fact very glad when Fine Gael’s Ivan Yates put down
an Adjournment Motion in the Dáil. The request for an Adjournment Motion is a measure which, if agreed, leads to the immediate interruption of normal business by the House for the discussion
of a matter or issue deemed to be of urgent public importance. This gave me a much-needed chance to go to the Dáil and to set out the situation exactly. What follows here is a verbatim copy
of my statement of 24 May 2000, in which the importance of the detail can be appreciated.

As I have said, I was grateful to have the occasion of the Adjournment debate to be able to face down some of my critics at the time. I cannot say there was no satisfaction for
me in being able quote back to Ivan Yates those infamous words of his on
Morning Ireland
: that an Eircom share was ‘money for old rope’. I have often thought about the matter
since, and how much he must have regretted that early morning interview! It would not be until some years later that it became quite clear, as evidenced by well-known economic commentators, that
the Eircom flotation was not a ‘debacle’. A good price was achieved for the government and the punters had a chance to make their money over the share price for quite a while
afterwards. I would have been devastated if we had priced too low and by so doing, we had denied a fair price to the government and to the country.

As can be imagined, it wasn’t easy being under such intense public scrutiny at times, and sometimes the only way through was to see the funny side. It was, of course, during my time as
Minister for Public Enterprise that the then Chairperson of
CIÉ
, Brian Joyce, resigned. Asked in a live media interview at the time what I had been doing when I had
heard of the resignation, I had replied, perhaps a little too spontaneously, that I had been in the bath listening to the radio when I had first learned the news. Lo and behold, the cover of the
next issue of
The Phoenix
was an image depicting Bertie Ahern and me in a bubble bath together when we got the news of Joyce’s departure!

With the year 2000 fast approaching, Ireland was in the grip of millennium fever. Séamus Brennan, our Chief Whip, was appointed Minister for the Millennium and he set about putting
together an inspiring programme to mark the new century, pivotal to which was a small sum from our Lotto which he made available to communities throughout the country to apply for a particular
commemorative statute or event or memorial. Each project of this kind would be vetted rigorously by a very competent committee before any money was awarded.

One of my own favourite initiatives relating to the millennium celebrations came from An Post, in fact. As well as issuing a magnificent special issue of their wonderful commemorative stamps,
they set themselves the goal of giving a ‘millennium tree’ to everyone in Ireland. Each person was to receive a certificate bearing the ‘address’ of their tree — i.e.
details of the place where it had been planted. The idea was that they could go to visit it to see how it was doing. The project quickly caught the public’s imagination. Just the other day I
came across my own certificate and, poignantly, a certificate for Enda. Our trees were planted out beyond Glasson, but I have friends whose trees are in Kilkenny, in County Dublin, and so on. I
don’t know if people have kept up the viewing of their trees. The last time I went to see mine was about two years ago, and it was growing tall and strong. I think this was one of the more
fanciful ideas for the celebration year, but one which took root (if you will pardon the pun!), and was a real success.

I remember now so well New Year’s Eve 1999, when churches all over Ireland held commemorative ceremonies. I can still recall how Enda and I went to St Peter’s in Athlone that evening
at 7 p.m., and how everyone held hands and sang hymns and ushered in the year 2000. With a new century in the offing, it seemed that perhaps a new Ireland with new hopes lay ahead of us too. If
only it was so easy to erase the hurts, the bitterness and the difficulties of the past, and to dress in shining new clothes.

Just as I was, Enda was very enthused about the year 2000 — we often talked together about the new century, about new lives and fresh hopes. It seemed as if he had forgotten his illness of
the previous year, had risen above it and was determined to go forward with new energy and health. And so he would do for a good number of months until the day in late January 2001 which, all these
years later, is still so difficult for me to contemplate.

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