Allied Irish Banks has no intention of publishing three reports on the near-collapse of the bank as it views them to be commercially sensitive, the Minister for Finance has said.

In response to a question from Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty, Michael Noonan said the reports written in 2010 and 2011 by AIB’s then group chief credit officer Joe O’Connor, accountants Deloitte and consultants Promontory, were not compiled to be published by the bank.

The Minister said AIB had told him that the reports were “not formal investigations intended for publication, nor were they prepared employing the processes and procedures which would be employed had they been undertaken with a view to publication”.

They contained “views and opinions which those expressing them would have reasonably and legitimately expected to be treated in confidence”.

The reports – details from which were published in The Irish Times last week – outline the failures of credit risk management and corporate governance that led to the State’s injection of close to €20 billion into AIB.