Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have answered this question on innumerable occasions. The Government's policy position is that we do not intend retaining the banks and, in particular AIB, in public ownership indefinitely but indefinitely could stretch out a long way. I have been advised by my Swedish colleague that the last of the shares held by the Swedish Government in its banking system following the country's banking crisis in the early 1990s was only disposed of in the second half of last year, more than 20 years after the event. We are not talking about a sudden sale or a fire-sale; we are talking about getting the bank's books in order so that it is structured in a way that it is saleable and then we will consider best advice on what quantum we will put on the market. That does not mean that we have abandoned the idea of a retrospective or retroactive recapitalisation. The same initial mechanism is involved whether we sell on the market or to the ESM. They give us money for shares and whether it is the market or the ESM, it is an exchange of money for shares. I am totally non-ideological on this. We will give the shares to the people who give us the most money and at the moment it looks as if the market is disposed to giving us more money than the ESM. One monopoly purchaser is in a stronger position than a number of willing buyers on the market but we will see. This is one of the reasons we have Goldman Sachs in. It will evaluate the full scenario and advance it.

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