Banking Sector
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-26
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Pearse Doherty (SF), Donegal

The Minister mentioned the policy objective to return the banks to private ownership. I mentioned earlier that the State should have retained its position as a majority shareholder in AIB. It is not unique, as I am sure the Minister knows, for countries across Europe to be the majority shareholder or a significant shareholder in significant banks. It happens right across Europe, including in France and Germany. Many western European countries have that model, so the idea of the State having a share or a majority share in a bank is not something alien in terms of other European countries and in some cases competitors. The issue in this country is that we have a very small retail banking sector. I have always believed that despite some of the activities of AIB, the fact that the State was a shareholder forced it to be first movers in a lot of issues where it brought Bank of Ireland along with it. Will the Minister expand on whether he has received any guarantees from BAWAG during this sale process in relation to staffing and the branch network?

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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