Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I would prefer if the Government did not sell its share in Allied Irish Banks. It would be great if AIB became a State bank. We heard a great deal in 2011 about establishing a State investment bank when the private banks let us down and we ended up bailing them out because they were useless.

The Minister referred to European Union rules. The European Commission recently stated that Ireland is not spending enough on infrastructure and noted that our investment rate was one of the lowest in Europe. In 2008, we spent 5.2% of gross domestic product, GDP, on investment in infrastructure. By 2016, the investment rate in infrastructure had declined to 1.7% and it is set to reach 2% by 2021, which is far below the European average. Other countries break EU rules when it suits them and the EU has shown flexibility towards France, Italy and Austria in the past 18 months. Given that we need money to invest in infrastructure, especially housing, is there not a case for seeking a special dispensation from the EU to use money such as the proceeds from the sale of State shares in the banks to invest in infrastructure?

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