Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I commend the Labour Party for the motion which I support totally. In the past few years we have seen all of the banks come through difficult situations. However, at the end of the day, it is ordinary people who have through blood, sweat and tears bailed out the country. Now, when we see the laying hen starting to do better, the Government is thinking about selling shares in AIB. There are many house owners who have problems with their mortgages and the first thing AIB needs to do is to come to terms with them and sort out resolutions for them, no more than all of the other banks, instead of trying to sell the roof from over their heads. It is ordinary people in every part of the country who have kept the system afloat in recent years.

I agree wholeheartedly with Deputy Róisín Shortall when she states a vote in the Dáil is required. As politicians, there is a responsibility on us to do the right thing. In this case, I agree that the right thing - Deputy Eamon Ryan touched on it - is to have a public banking system. Some of the private banks, or the banks into which the Government did not put as much money, have absconded from parts of the country, especially rural Ireland, since they started to recoup. For all the Government's talk about regional development in all parts of Ireland, we need a public banking system, whether people like it. A public banking system would present an opportunity to get the banking system right around the country. Governments love to talk to the likes of the Rothschilds and the different consultants who will come up with different ideas. However, at the end of the day, AIB has come through a difficult time and is now starting to return a profit which, in my opinion, in the next number of years will increase. Be it in Dublin city which needs infrastructure or other parts of Ireland, north, south, east and west, if one were in business and had something which was giving a yield every year, be it €260 million this year or any other figure, it would increase during the years. It would give the Government a dividend and reaslise a value. There is no point in putting X amount of money in and then getting back half or three quarters of it. One may have to wait for a long time, but in the end one will receive a dividend, plus more. The one thing the Government needs to do is to put the matter to a vote in the Dáil to see whether it would get a majority of Deputies to support it. I believe it would not get a majority if we are to do the right thing for the people. Regardless of what the European Union states or whatever pressure is exerted, we need to do what is right for the country. The one thing that would be right is making sure AIB is held as it is because, with the fiscal rules and given the way money must be paid back, if we were to receive a lump sum, I do not think the European Union would even allow us to spend it. We need to be able to stand up and put infrastructure in place around the country. We have so many sectors that require investment, including hospitals, disability services, road and rail projects, that we would want five AIBs to yield us enough money. I hope the Minister of State will take this on board. I ask him to make sure the matter is put to the Dáil when he might see where people stand.

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