Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 242: To ask the Minister for Finance his plans for the future of Anglo Irish Bank; and the liability the State would have been exposed to in the event of the bank being allowed to collapse prior to its nationalisation and recapitalisation. [37321/09]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Board of Anglo Irish Bank is currently finalising a restructuring plan which will set out the future strategy for the bank. The restructuring plan will consider all options for the future of Anglo. This plan will have to be approved by me and will be submitted to the European Commission for approval under EU State Aid rules by end-November.

Anglo is a major financial institution whose viability is of systemic importance to Ireland. The bank has a balance sheet in excess of €88bn and a substantial deposit base, which the Government is determined to safeguard. The Government therefore took the decision to take Anglo into public ownership and subsequently to provide €4bn in capital to the bank, in order to maintain Anglo's viability.

As I have stated previously, these actions were taken by the Government to protect the economy from the wider losses that would have occurred in the event of a failure of the bank, to protect Anglo's deposit base, and to prevent the bank becoming a systemic threat.