Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I replied to this already in the House, on the record, and the Deputy has not taken note of the reply. I do not set AIB's period for determining when it submits its plan, rather, the regulator does. That is the whole point about Tuesday's announcement. We now have an independent regulator who lays down capital ratios. I do not interfere politically with that; that is not my function as Minister for Finance. I thought everyone in this House could agree that is a desirable change for this country and the way we should operate as a country in regard to these bank matters.

A great deal of the burden of the Deputy's criticism regarding AIB has been that in some way, the Government has given it until the end of the year to sort out its problems. That is not the case and if one examines what the regulator has stated, one will find he has made it very clear that AIB has to formulate its capital plan by end of April. In fact, his initial determination was June but in the course of the days leading up to the announcement he made clear that it would have formulate its plan by end of April.

There is no question of AIB being given an extended period of time. It has a more extended period of time in order to put the funds in place, as is the case in any capitalisation and, if one studied the history of capitalisation in any other country one would find it would be remarkable to expect the capitalisation to take place in a month. As far as AIB is concerned, the regulator has given it until the end of April to formulate how this capital will be acquired by AIB. On the issue of AIB being given time demonstrating that in some way I am being soft on the bank, the position is that the regulator now decides these matters. That is essential for our national credibility, in terms of regulation and capital raising. It has been given until the end of April to provide a definitive plan, which is not an extended timescale.

On the European Union, I have very good relations with the Commission and at all stages my Department is in consultation with the European Union about the strategic plan for Anglo Irish Bank. Incidentally, the strategic plan is not submitted by the Department of Finance, rather, it is submitted by the bank itself. It does not necessarily have the endorsement of the Government. We are engaged in the closest possible discussions with the EU authorities——

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