More Irish private investors and pension funds should be allowed buy shares in State assets, Fianna Fail leader Mr Bertie Ahern said last night. He also said there had been too much "fence sitting" about the future of the State owned banks.

Mr Ahern, who was addressing the consultative group of chief executives of State sponsored bodies in Dublin, said that, four years ago, when the sale of a minority stake in Telecom could have raised nearly £500 million, "we were warned that this would bring down the Government". "Now we see a valuable share in Telecom sold off relatively cheaply to foreign institutions," he said. page 2