Varadkar welcomes €3.4bn state shares sale within AIB but claims the money should be used to write down national debt rather than state infrastructure – TheLiberal.ie – Our News, Your Views

Varadkar welcomes €3.4bn state shares sale within AIB but claims the money should be used to write down national debt rather than state infrastructure




The Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has welcomed the recent sale of state owned shares in one of the countries biggest banks.

Mr Varadkar who was speaking in Brussels on Friday has said the sale of the Governments 29% stake in the AIB bank represents good value for money and that it will insure the banks long term future.

The news of the states €3.4bn share sale has however drawn criticism from opposition TD’s with many questioning the Governments decision to use the funding raised by the sale to write down debt rather than use it on state infrastructure such as housing and the health service.

However Mr Varadkar claims that the country’s national debt should be indeed written down given that the money that the state pumped into AIB during the recession was borrowed money anyway.

Speaking to RTE Mr Varadkar said: “As the money was borrowed, and as it came from the National Pension Reserve Fund, the money will of course be used to repay our debt which in turn reduces our debt service costs, which is important too.”

“In relation with what we do with the money, some people in the Opposition are conflating different issues.”

“The money that was put into AIB in the first place was borrowed money … so having borrowed the money we’re going to use the money that we now receive from the sale to pay down our national debt and that’s the appropriate thing to do. If you borrow money you can pay it back.”

“Infrastructure is a different issue. We have spending ceilings. Those spending ceilings derive from the fiscal rules, derive from the Fiscal Treaty which we voted for in a referendum derived from our own domestic legislation.”

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