Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As the ECB and the board of governors of the Central Bank have stated, there was an uncertainty regarding the pandemic and these companies needed to ensure their capital was preserved so they would not be dependent on taxpayer support in the future. Likewise, those companies should not have been allowed to pay out dividends at a time when they were receiving important money that the State needed. The Minister allowed that to happen and others did not. The Dutch Minister of Finance put in a ban, as did the British Chancellor of the Exchequer. Other Ministers across Europe did the same but the Minister has allowed this to happen. Does the Minister accept at this late stage that this was a mistake? Did any official in his Department give the Minister advice or guidance that this ban should be in place?