Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

Does the Minister not consider it a bit obscene that the banks were bailed out to the tune of €64 billion, and they now get to count that bailout - those losses - as an asset on their balance sheets? Obviously, in the case of the nationalised bank it does not really matter, but from the point of view of Bank of Ireland, which has €1.2 billion in deferred tax assets, and the benefit to which on a yearly basis was doubled in the previous budget, it is not of benefit to the taxpayer but it is clearly of benefit to the banks. Did the banks unilaterally lobby for the change to take place before the Department contacted them? Is it the case that they are allergic to paying corporation tax and the Minister seeks to facilitate them?

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