Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Finance in view of the fact that he is the owner of 15% of the ordinary shares in Bank of Ireland, and owner of preference shares most recently valued at €1.473 billion, if he will confirm if the recent disposal by him of €1 billion contingent capital notes was in the interests of Bank of Ireland; and if so, if he will provide the basis for this position. [3712/13]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Finance if he will provide the overall costs incurred by Bank of Ireland in the recent disposal by him of €1 billion contingent capital notes. [3713/13]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Finance if he will confirm the date on which the €1 billion contingent capital notes were first offered to the market. [3714/13]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Finance following the recent disposal of €1bn contingent capital notes, if he received advice as to the optimum period over which the CCNs should have been marketed before any sale was closed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3715/13]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Finance following the recent disposal of €1bn contingent capital notes in Bank of Ireland, if he will outline the involvement in the disposal, of the former head of the Shareholder Management Unit in the Department of Finance (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3716/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 220 to 224, inclusive, together.

As announced by my Department on January 9th, the State was successful in disposing of its entire €1 billion holding of Contingent Capital Notes (CCNs) in Bank of Ireland (BOI). The transaction was a very positive outcome for the State on a number of levels. It will enable us to reduce our indebtedness, it has had a positive impact on investor sentiment and it has also helped to underpin the value of our remaining banks investments. The transaction also reflects positively on Bank of Ireland, as will any further such disposals by the State in the future. Exit by the State over time from its bank investments is Government policy and the eventual separation of the State from the banking sector is an objective for which there is strong support across the political spectrum.

As I have stated before, the sale was managed by officials in the Department’s Shareholder Management Unit, with many years' experience working in financial markets. Having established at the outset that there was sufficient demand to secure an underwriting position from the investment banks, the date the CCNs were offered to the market was January 9th, 2013 the day the book build process began. In response to your question on the optimum period of marketing for the CCNs, it is important to recognise that Bank of Ireland had been active in the market in both November and December raising €1.0bn through the issuance of an Asset Covered Securities (ACS) bond and €250m of subordinated debt. This meant that investors were fully up to speed with the bank’s investment proposition by the time the State looked to execute its own transaction.

On the issue of the involvement of the former head of the Shareholder Management Unit, the officer went on holidays to Australia on 12 December, 2012 and did not return to the Department until January 14th, 2013 at which time he tendered his resignation and in accordance with normal practice will not take up duty in the banks for another two months. Hence there is effectively a cordon sanitaire in operation for three months in this instance. Finally I have been informed by the Bank that they are not in a position to provide the costs incurred in the recent disposal of the CCNs as it is commercially sensitive.