Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Does the Minister see selling, on behalf of the Irish people, good investments below their realisable value as being prudent? That should scare the bejapers out of any rational person who would think there must be something crazy here if they are selling these really good investments at bargain basement prices. It would show confidence if the Minister had said these are good investments that will give us a good return and we have the confidence and the courage to hold on to them and make a return. I am certain that the two, so called, pillar banks will make profits in the future. Under current regulation and the arrangements we have put in place, I am confident they will make good profit. Since they are not on the national balance sheet, money invested in those pillar banks, if we have the patience to hold on to it, will give us a good return in the future. I have often cited the previous history of Irish Life, before the private sector made a mess of it. It was taken over by the State because it was in trouble and made significant money for the State over a number of years.

Why is the Government putting so much pain on our people and trying not to make a profit from investments that would give a good return in the future? I call on the Minister for Finance to say why we are not trying to make a profit on our investments. When we made the initial share capital investment in preference shares in AIB and Bank of Ireland, one of the questions from Government was whether or not we were getting a good coupon and a return on our money. The investment was not on the national debt because these were considered commercial investments. The Minister for Finance confirmed that to me in a reply to a parliamentary question last year. These investments do not count as part of the national debt because they are considered to be commercial investments. Why is the Government not trying to make a return for the ordinary people of the country whose money has been put into these investments?

Will the Government give full disclosure of the advice it was given for the sale of the so-called CoCos? The Government seems to be willing to dissolve any of its positions in the banks, including the most profitable ones, and will sell as soon as it can. The investors who are buying in know this. They know this is a giveaway sale that makes the Christmas sales in the shops look like robbery.

I will be particularly interested to hear the views of Deputies Peter Mathews and Shane Ross on all of this, if they have an alternative analysis from mine and if, in their view, there is some extraordinary reason why selling a loan at 10% when one can borrow at 4% makes commercial sense and shows confidence. If the only risk on the investment is the failure of the bank, the sale shows a great lack of confidence in the bank. It is farcical that anyone would fear that risk. There is, therefore, no explanation for this. It is one of the most incredible things.

Can the Minister explain his giving €60 million away to financiers every year from 2014 onward while making petty cuts to farm assist, grants to carers and all the things that were done in the budget, which need not have happened if the Government had insisted on getting its pound of flesh out of the commercial investments we have made?

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