Kevin Humphreys (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Unfortunately, the joke is on the citizens of Ireland. A sum of €20.9 billion was put into AIB to recapitalise it. That is clearly where the joke is at the moment. I certainly do not support the sale of 25% of the shares. Questions need to be asked and identified. I would like to see the fees being paid to Rothschild and the other advisers in respect of the sale of this 25% being clearly explained. I would like to know whether senior management in AIB will benefit from the sales. The citizen is entitled to that information and to know what reasoning is behind it.

If I remember correctly, Senator O'Donnell is an accountant. I have worked with him on the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach. He was always fairly logical and so was the Minister. I wonder why we are rushing to sell now. The Minister was quite right to point out that AIB paid a dividend of €250 million for the first time. That is what makes it attractive and that is why the Minister has said we should sell now. What exactly is the dividend of €250 million worth to the Irish citizen? When it comes back into the Exchequer, 25% of the dividends of those shares is worth €62.5 million to the citizens, which can actually be invested in their future and the future of the children of this State. What is the interest on €1 billion? It is approximately €30 million. We are now saying that the State will lose out financially on the sale of the shares because the cost of servicing €3 billion of the Irish debt is approximately 1% or €30 million, while the return on 25% of the shares this year is roughly €62.5 million. Therefore, we are now losing money with the sale. We will not be allowed to invest that €3 billion into infrastructure that would have given a further return. I am sorry, it just does not stand up at this stage.eWe all know the position on debt. We know the target figures. To lower the target from 60% to 55% as Senator Kieran O'Donnell suggested, does not make sense at this stage. We have a major infrastructural deficit because of the period of austerity when we were fixing the economy from the time Fianna Fáil held office.

We have to rebuild our social stock, whether that is housing, hospitals, schools or roads. I am disappointed that the Order of Business was changed. I thought we were going to come in at 5 p.m. this evening and debate the Labour Party motion. Obviously, so did Sinn Féin, as they wished to amend it. I do not know where the Fianna Fáil Party stands because this is the third speech I have heard from Fianna Fáil, and all three have been different.