Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

Let me explain. I do not know if the Deputy wants to hear the explanation or not. The Government made a strategic decision to seek external funding for the banking system. I commend the officials of the Department of Finance, who did extraordinary work throughout the summer to get that private sector investment into the banks. The week before that strategic investment was made the commentary in the media was that it would be impossible to get private sector investment in the Irish banking system. It was an extraordinarily difficult negotiation because any potential investor wanted residual guarantees from the State. None was given. This was a pure investment. The week after the investment, the criticism was that we had given the shares away cheaply. It is very hard to get things right in the public view. We probably could have sold a bigger stakeholding at that stage, but we want to ensure that the residual State stakeholding gets best value.

One could argue that we should have held off and not sought private sector investment because we would not get best value for the State shareholding we relinquished. I would be happy to argue that point but I am sure the Minister for Finance will do so more effectively than I. It was extremely important, particularly at that moment, to show that it was possible to get private sector investment in the Irish banking system. That act of confidence has been extremely important in the international narrative of banking in this State. It does not mean we should release further State equity in the banking system now, if we believe the potential is for a much greater gain to the State in the medium term. That is the strategic thinking of the Government on banks shareholding.

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