Banking Sector
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-26
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Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow

I thank Deputy Doherty. The State's investment in Permanent TSB, PTSB, was made during the financial crisis to safeguard the stability of the banking system and protect depositors. The State has been and continues to be very supportive of PTSB. The Government believes that it is in the long-term interests of PTSB and citizens in general that the bank be returned to full private ownership. I accept that we have differing political views on that. This transaction would mark a successful conclusion after a period of stabilisation. A sale reflects the Department’s confidence in PTSB’s strength and ability to succeed without State support. A sale of the State’s investment would be consistent with the objectives of recovering taxpayer funds that were used to rescue the Irish banks and deploying these to more productive purposes.
The board of PTSB announced a formal sale process on 30 October 2025. This process was conducted under the Irish takeover rules and resulted in the board unanimously recommending a cash offer from a subsidiary of BAWAG Group AG. BAWAG has set out a long-term ownership approach, including maintaining a strong and resilient PTSB, investing in the business, retaining the headquarters in Dublin, keeping a meaningful branch footprint and safeguarding existing employment rights and pension arrangements in line with applicable law. BAWAG noted that in its view, the PTSB branch network is a real asset. I met BAWAG and its representatives reiterated that point to me as well. It genuinely sees the branch network as an asset. It does not intend to make any material changes with respect to the fixed asset bases. Instead, it notes that branches could shift from being transactions-based based to advisory-based, as it adds new products to the bank’s offering. This is probably something that we would see PTSB and others doing anyway, in terms of the role of a bank branch changing rather than the branch not being there. BAWAG has also indicated its intention to leverage its broader European expertise to strengthen the bank’s competitiveness, including in areas such as SME banking, which would be very welcome, energy-efficiency finance and operational integration. These stated intentions formed part of the overall assessment to support BAWAG’s recommended cash offer.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-26/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:04+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-26