Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has pointed to the fact that we effectively own AIB and have a substantial share in Bank of Ireland as part of the rationale for doing this. He implies it is in the public interest to do this and to create a level playing field for the banks in which we have a stake in the wider banking market. I would put it completely differently. These banks were making astronomical profits during the boom, but we got practically nothing from them because corporate tax here is so low. They then caused the economy to crash because of their greed and nefarious activities. We stepped in and pumped vast amounts into them, crippling our economy in the process. Now, we prepare to launch them back into the market so that when they become profitable again, we will get nothing from them. What we are doing is fattening up the golden goose for private investors to come and grab it. The only time we have a so-called "stake" in the banks is when it is on its knees and we are pumping money into it.

There is no way to put this other than to say that this is a bailout for these institutions. The beneficiaries of it will be the private investors whom the Minister hopes will eventually come back into the market and take these banks off us. We get the banks when they are crippled, yet the same people who helped wreck our economy and the global economy will get them when we have fattened them up nicely again and reduced their tax liability. This is shocking. If it was the case that we would retain ownership in the long term and would derive some genuine benefit from putting them in a stronger position, I could understand the rationale. However, the Minister has stated clearly that his intention is to re-privatise these banks at the first opportunity. We have more or less done that with Bank of Ireland.

The difference in attitude between AIB and Bank of Ireland when they have come in here to address issues of concern, such as how they deal with distressed mortgage holders, credit for the SME sector and all the other issues we try to put pressure on them to address, is very clear. The more privatised the bank is, the more its representatives completely ignore and disregard the concerns of the very people who bailed them out. AIB representatives are a little more polite in their demeanour because we have some influence over them. However, ultimately AIB will go down the same road that Bank of Ireland has already started on. We are just reducing their tax liability and leaving them, literally, laughing all the way to the bank when we have done all the hard work of bailing them out. This measure is just more of that and is completely unacceptable.