Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The first part is a bail-in between bondholders and shareholders. The second part relates to the State's resources. If legislation provides that 100% of an investment fund that should be available to invest in the Irish economy and create employment can be scrubbed if banks need money the money will be called on before it is possible to access the European Stability Mechanism, ESM. The Government passed emergency legislation to amend the National Pension Reserve Fund Act to allow it invest in banks, though "invest" is the wrong word. We should not continue with this. This is like passing legislation that takes money from local authorities when banks are in trouble. Just because this has been used once does not means it makes sense to include it in this legislation. It is a vehicle that was supposed to pay for State pensions. If it is to create employment and economic activity in Ireland we should not allow it to be used when a bank is in trouble. The fact that 100% of this fund may be used for that purpose smacks of this Government's priorities.

Later in the legislation it says payments to the Exchequer cannot be made until 2025 and that the aggregate payments in any given year can only be 4% of the fund. If there is an issue in future whereby we cannot afford to pay doctors, carers or special needs assistants the most the Exchequer can get back from the fund, even when it is profitable, is 4% of the aggregate total of the combined value of the fund for a year. However, God forbid a bank like AIB or Bank of Ireland should get in trouble and need to phone the Minister for Finance because the entire fund can be put at their disposal.