Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

The crucial point is that there are no current proposals to do so. However, Deputy Morgan is right in that we are taking power to do so.

Regarding the core issue of the amendment, the Minister must form an opinion after consultation with the Central Bank and the Financial Regulator and only to deal with serious disturbances or potential serious damage to the financial system. Clearly, the Minister must have this power. The question being raised is why the Minister cannot be prevented from exercising the power without parliamentary approval. While I appreciate Deputy O'Shea's point, the Minister requires this power to deal with emergency circumstances.

The example used in the amendment relates to the Minister proposing to exceed the €7 billion limit. Currently, were the Minister to issue a direction to the commissioners to exceed that limit, they would be required to sell shares, a commercially sensitive matter that could not be discussed in the House in advance. The commissioners would need to dispose of the shareholdings at the maximum possible value. The idea that we could have an extensive parliamentary debate before the exercise of such a commercial decision is wrong. It would not be desirable or in the public interest to advertise to the entire investment community that Ireland was required to fire sale some of the equities it held in a pension fund. For this reason, the power is not subject to prior parliamentary approval.

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