Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that on amendment No. 96 but the substantive part of the amendment is “would represent no more than a reasonable commercial return to a regulated commercial bank,” because then we are into the 3% to 4%. I do take the Minister of State’s point about breaking the link to profits. The profit participating notes are structured and it explicitly states in them that whatever amount of profit resides in the company, the interest rate goes up to suck it all out. It is an explicit tax avoidance mechanism used in absolutely legitimate ways outside the vulture funds. I accept that it breaks the explicit link to saying the interest rate goes up to cover whatever profits there are inside the section 110. How do we avoid a situation where reasonable commercial return is successfully argued by the vulture funds as 12% or 13% versus what they pay on the money they actually borrow which in their own accounts is usually 3% to 4%?