Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I am. On the night the legislation was introduced in the House Deputy Burton asked about the question of capital. I replied to her by saying that it was in the first instance a matter for the institutions themselves to capitalise them and that we would go in deep to ascertain what the problems were. We have seen what the problems were.

I will not have a chance to answer Deputy English's next question on capital cost. It is easy to answer institution by institution. Clearly the State has received €500 million for its investment in preference shares in Bank of Ireland already and also has a substantial shareholding in the institution. In AIB, the payment on foot of the preference shares was suspended and the State will have a substantial equity investment in the bank in the future. The costs for Anglo Irish Bank and the Irish Nationwide Building Society have been mentioned in public discussion today.

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