Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This matter has been raised on a number of occasions in the period since the Minister for Finance indicated that it was the intention of the Government to test the market in respect of the sale of a portion of Allied Irish Banks, the vast majority of the shares of which are owned by the State.

The windows for that are very evident and the Minister intends to proceed to deal with that. He has commented on that through replies to questions in the Dáil in the past, as I have also. This is, if one likes, a paper transfer of assets and will be used for writing down debt.

The review of the capital programme, which as the Deputy is aware is quite extensive, is already commencing. In addition, the opening of the European Investment Bank office in Dublin allows specifically for extra investment for infrastructure and also for investment in small and medium-sized enterprises.

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