I propose to take Questions Nos. 176, 177, 178, 179 and 182 together.
As the Deputy may be aware, as Minister for Finance, I have no role in the commercial decisions made by any bank in the State. This includes banks in which the State has a shareholding.
Decisions in this regard are the sole responsibility of the board and management of the banks which must be run on an independent and commercial basis. The independence of banks in which the State has a shareholding is protected by Relationship Frameworks which are legally binding documents that cannot be changed unilaterally. These frameworks, which are publicly available, were insisted upon by the European Commission to protect competition in the Irish market. The AIB Relationship Framework is available to view on my Department's website.
My officials contacted AIB and received the following response:
"AIB is undertaking a review of all investments in the property funds, known as Belfry, sold between 2002 and 2006. Each investment is examined on a case by case basis to determine if redress may be due in certain instances. The bank is continuing to communicate with Belfry investors to make them aware of this review, to provide progress updates and to advise a dedicated contact point for any queries. AIB is focused on completing its review of these legacy investments in a timely manner. Based on initial assessments, a provision of €75 million has been taken for the anticipated cost of redress and other related costs that may be payable. This was set out in a note in AIB’s H1 2021 accounts.
"In July 2021, the bank settled legal claims from approximately 270 investors in Belfry Funds. A provision amounting to €25 million was taken at that time in relation to this settlement and the associated costs."