Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

We do not have shareholdings in these institutions so once these directors are appointed, their primary obligation is to the institution itself in fiduciary terms.

On the other question of whether the State should take a shareholding in these institutions, I have made it clear that I have invited the banks to reflect on their own capital requirements. I have pointed out to them that the onus is on them as private institutions to capitalise themselves and I have also made it clear that in appropriate circumstances the State will invest in financial institutions by way of supplement to private investment or by way of co-investment with other interests.

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