Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)

There is no doubt that we will not benefit from hundreds of millions of euro in dividends each year. The Minister can make the point of €273 million of a dividend last year on the basis of a 19% shareholding. Obviously, if we had the 71% that would be significantly increased in a year where the bank paid out close to a billion euro on dividends. This was one of the most financially reckless decisions that have been made in a long time. In 2022, when the public owned more than 70% of AIB, the share price was €2.32. That is when the State started selling at a more aggressive pace. The share price now is about €7. A bit of simple maths would show that, even if we held the shares today and sold them all today, which I would not agree with, but if the State sold them all today it would have made about €4.5 billion more. Through the aggressive selling of the shares of AIB, does the Minister not accept the fact that he probably lost the State more than €4 billion in the value of the shares?

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