“Misleading and inaccurate” is how Fianna Fáil Galway West TD Frank Fahey has described opposition claims that taxpayers will lose out on bank payments from AIB and Bank of Ireland.
Dep Fahey, who is also a member of the Oireachtas Committee on Finance and the Public Service accused Fine Gael finance spokesman Richard Bruton of being “irresponsible” in speculating on what approach the European Commission will take on the restructuring of Bank of Ireland in addition to any decisions the AIB board might make about coupon payments.
“No decision has been made yet as well Dep Bruton knows,” he said. “AIB has decided not to start making discretionary payments until the bank’s restructuring plan is finalised.”
According to Dep Fahey, the plan was only submitted on November 13, “in line with European Commission rules on state aid”, and he added that suggestions that the taxpayer will not be paid a dividend from both banks is “simply misleading”.
Dep Fahey said talks are ongoing with the European Commission with a view to ensuring that AIB can pay the dividends due to the Government in cash rather than in ordinary shares. He said: “For Dep Bruton to insinuate that the Government is allowing the recapitalised banks to renege on their commitments to the taxpayer is simply incorrect.”
