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

The Irish banks emerged as weak principally because the data on which the assessment was made was historic. The Irish banks had moved on significantly to a much stronger position by the day the stress test was published from the day the data on which the stress test was based was collected. There are still difficulties with the Irish banks. The Deputy will notice that while Bank of Ireland pays a dividend AIB has not done so yet. Of course, it would require supervisory permission to pay a dividend. It is a work in progress. There is no immediate threat to any bank in this jurisdiction, and there is no crossover from any of the banking problems the Deputy mentioned in continental Europe, which are the responsibility of the European Central Bank and the European supervisory authority.

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