Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Finance the progress being made on the Programme for Government commitment to seek to dispose of the public stakes in the banks as soon as possible at the best possible return to the taxpayer. [14064/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, it is government policy to separate the State from its banks, a policy which I believe has shared support in this house. Significant progress in achieving this goal has already been made by this government, and this is particularly obvious since the beginning of the year. In January, the State successfully disposed of the €1bn Contingent Capital instruments in Bank of Ireland at a profit of €10m. It has also agreed a deal with Great-West Lifeco to purchase Irish Life for €1.3bn plus a €40m dividend. The deal is historic as it was the first disposal by the State of a company acquired during the financial crisis to private owners.

We have also replaced the annual burden of the IBRC Promissory Note with a portfolio of Irish Government bonds at a lower funding cost for the State, resulting in significant annual interest savings and we have removed the guarantee of bank deposits and liabilities which dates back to September 2008.

All of these steps have significantly improved investor’s perceptions of Ireland and its financial sector.

The State’s remaining investments consist of a 99.8% equity stake in AIB, a 15% equity stake in BOI, 99.2% of the shares in Permanent TSB, preference shares with a nominal value of €3.5bn in AIB and €1.8bn in BOI and Contingent Capital in AIB of €1.6bn and €0.4bn in Permanent TSB.

We will continue to examine opportunities to exit our remaining bank investments over time and when conditions allow.