Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

The key point that has been raised in this debate is the Minister's admission that there is no legal impediment which would allow for pay increases and bonuses for low-paid and middle-paid banking staff on the one hand, while maintaining a pay maximum and super tax on bonuses for the people at the top. That completely undermines the line of argument that was put forward in the Dáil yesterday by the Taoiseach. It is not just the one bank that the Minister is talking about. It is one bank today in November or December but the Minister has another bank in mind for early in the new year. He has it in mind that AIB would switch from being majority publicly owned to majority privately owned. Once it is majority privately owned, the rules that apply to Bank of Ireland would apply to AIB.

We have to look at the direction of travel and under the guiding hand of the Minister it is a direction of privatisation, the lifting of the €500,000 cap and opening the door to €20,000 bonuses. That is the issue that is concerning the public, who are under the hammer in a cost-of-living crisis and who see these changes being introduced for the benefit of the 1%.