This morning RTE reported that the Government is considering relaxing the cap on bankers' pay to facilitate a huge salary for the new Bank of Ireland chief executive officer. The cap is already set at €500,000, yet Bank of Ireland has now stated such a cap places it at a competitive disadvantage. It is worth noting that last year alone, Mr. Boucher's total package was €958,000, nearly €1 million. Huge salaries far above the €500,000 cap were paid while the banking fiasco played out. We were told repeatedly that if one pays peanuts, one gets monkeys. Therefore, we paid the exorbitant salaries to the experts, who fiddled while Rome burned and the people were left to pick up the pieces.

The Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, has himself said that because the Government now holds a stake of only 14% in Bank of Ireland, it can be more flexible regarding pay. Are we now about to make the same mistake again by proceeding with the sale of AIB shares and further losing control of a sector that cost billions of euro and tore the social fabric out of this country?

AIB is 99.9% State-owned. The money we pumped into it is not the Taoiseach's or mine; it belongs to the people across this country, not just this generation but also generations to come. They deserve to know that any decision taken on AIB will not be informed by some arbitrary decision by the Taoiseach or by the Minister, Deputy Noonan, based on the same advice or the advice of some of the experts and consultants who stood on the sidelines cheering the boom, many of whom have benefitted considerably in advising on how to handle the wreckage of the bust.

It was heralded recently that the Government is considering a sizeable AIB share sale. I now read that Goodbody Stockbrokers has been appointed along with familiar names such as JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Davy, among others. They have been appointed until July 2018. It appears that the Taoiseach expects the sale to proceed almost unnoticed. Have we learned nothing from the mistakes of the past? A share sale means losing control and losing control means a return to the same banking model that got us into trouble in the first place. The salary fiasco in Bank of Ireland is a prime example. Surely the Taoiseach recognises that a decision of such magnitude should be taken by democratic means and is not a simple matter for a minority Government to make.

It is a matter for the people and, as such, no such sale should even be contemplated without at least majority support. The Social Democrats have tabled a motion on the Order Paper to that effect. Will the Taoiseach commit to producing a full cost-benefit analysis regarding any proposed share sale of AIB clearly laying out the benefits of a share now, at a future date or not at all? Will he make public the findings of that cost-benefit analysis and will he guarantee that no decision will be taken on any AIB share sale until at least there is a vote in the Dáil?

Deputy Murphy has raised a couple of issues. It is part of the programme for Government that there would be a sale of up to 25% of AIB. The Minister for Finance has made that perfectly clear on numerous occasions and is proceeding through the process of bringing that to a conclusion.

In respect of pay rates, the situation is that the cap remains and if the person to succeed the current chief executive comes from the internal panel, the cap will still remain in place. Bank of Ireland is in a position to negotiate an arrangement with a competent effective person if it deems somebody from outside to fulfil its requirements.

I suppose clichés exist for a purpose but one that jumps to mind immediately is that if one does not learn from history, it has a tendency to repeat itself. It looks like we are heading back to the same banking model as was in place prior to the crash. Indeed, it was not only the citizens of Ireland who picked up the tab. Many people are in penury who had invested in these banks, in terms of shares for their pensions.

It is essential that there is a cost-benefit analysis on whether to sell, and when to sell if it is decided to sell. It is unconscionable that there would not be a vote in this House given that there is a minority Government. If the cap is breached, may I also ask if the Taoiseach would stand over that kind of salary for the chief executive of a bank, that is, somewhere in the region of €1 million?

Deputy Murphy has expressed an interest in this on many occasions but there is no economic reason to sell a share in AIB. We are not under economic pressure to do it. The Minister for Finance, the Department and the Government will get the best professional advice they can in respect of the valuation being put on the share to be sold and that would be in the interest of the people because it is held by the Government on behalf of the people. There is no pressure to sell it and the Minister will get the very best professional advice he can and then make a decision based on that best professional advice.

As I stated, the cap remains in respect of salary if that person is from inside the bank. If the Bank of Ireland wishes to negotiate up to the level of the current chief executive with an effective suitable appropriate person from outside, then it has that opportunity.