Michelle Mulherin (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have a question for the Minister about the short selling of shares on the Irish stock market. Some financial institutions and hedge funds bought shares in Bank of Ireland when they were at a low price of 14 cent and sold them close to the peak price of 37 cent. It has recently been reported that one of these institutions recently short sold when the share price seemed to be increasing at approximately 35 cent. Now, the shares are valued at approximately 31 cent, a fall of over 10%.

Will this not have a destabilising effect on our banking system? Our banks are still not out of the woods. Has the low share price an effect on lending rates? Small businesses are being crucified with high interest rates. Our banks are mainly State owned, with a percentage of Bank of Ireland State owned. Could this type of activity scupper plans to sell off the banks? This is a worrying trend for our banking system. Should the Central Bank look at and monitor this more closely? Are the reports from the Central Bank -----