Sir, – Your newspaper reported that Michael Noonan is set to trigger the flotation of AIB, in complete defiance of a decision of Dáil Éireann ("Michael Noonan set to trigger AIB flotation", May 18th).
AIB was bailed out with over €20 billion of public funds, most of it from the National Pension Reserve Fund. The shareholding that resulted is now vested in the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund and it is clear from recent events that the Minister for Finance is intent on using that directed portfolio as he sees fit, independent of democratic oversight.
On Thursday, Dáil Éireann passed a Labour Party motion that calls on the Government to postpone the sale of AIB shares until the fiscal rules are changed to permit enhanced capital spending, rather than using these proceeds to deliver a meaningless reduction of just over 1 per cent to our debt-GDP ratio.
Our capital spending amounts to less than 2 per cent of GDP. In a growing economy at risk from Brexit, and with an increasing and aging population, more investment is clearly needed.
Five amendments to the Labour motion were defeated in the Dáil, including a Government amendment. The motion as originally tabled was then put to the House and agreed.
Since then, the approach by the Department of Finance has been to loudly proclaim that the Programme for Government allows the Minister to sell 25 per cent of AIB. This despite the fact that the programme for government simply commits “that the State will use its bank shareholding in the best interests of the Irish people”, and the fact that the motion agreed this week supersedes any previous Dáil decision.
This is the first time that any Government has attempted to sell such a valuable state asset without seeking prior Dáil approval. Indeed, they now intend to proceed despite the passage of a motion in the Dáil telling them not to. There is nothing to stop the Minister for Finance from tabling a motion to reverse this decision if he believes he has the support to do so. But he won’t even bother doing that.
Anyone reading The Irish Times report might have been forgiven for believing that ignoring a Dáil motion is a reasonable course of action. But in truth, Dáil votes on such motions have previously triggered general elections. If we are to successfully counter public cynicism in the operation of politics, the views of Dáil Éireann must be respected. – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN HOWLIN TD ,
Leader of the Labour Party,
Leinster House,
Dublin 2.