The State secured the Wilbur Ross investment for Ireland at a time when few other investors were prepared to invest, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said in the Dáil.

Mr Noonan was responding to the sale by the billionaire investor of his entire shareholding in Bank of Ireland.

Reduced risk

“This investment reduced the risk the taxpayer had to take, back in 2011, to support the banking sector in what was a difficult time for the State,” Mr Noonan added.

He said it was announced on Monday evening that a significant shareholder in Bank of Ireland was selling the remaining shares they held in the bank.

He was responding to the Fianna Fáil spokesman on finance Michael McGrath, who said Bank of Ireland was one of the institutions covered by Government bank stress tests.

“And I suppose I should spare today a thought for the many of thousands of ordinary shareholders in Bank of Ireland who lost everything,” he added.

Implications

Mr McGrath asked what the implications were for the State and what it wanted in its 14 per cent shareholding in Bank of Ireland, given that a large stock of the bank’s shares had been traded on the open market over the past number of months.