I wish to raise the pending retail initial public offering of AIB. It is the view of the Fianna Fáil group that the Minister, Deputy Noonan, should press the EU for a relaxation of the fiscal rules to allow the proceeds from the sale of the stake in AIB to be used for capital investment.

Not a day goes by in this Chamber when one of us does not raise the issue of homelessness, substandard maternity and children's hospitals, poor rail and transport services and underinvestment in our schools. We believe the proceeds from the sale would be better used for investment purposes than debt reduction, given the needs of our citizens at this time and on the eve of Brexit. Our party spokesperson, Deputy Michael McGrath, has also written directly to the President of the European Commission, Mr. Jean-Claude Juncker, urging him to reform and review the fiscal rules in order to facilitate additional capital expenditure in member states and, in the case of Ireland in particular, to allow the use of the proceeds from the sale of AIB and future proceeds from NAMA for investment in capital developments such as housing, hospitals and schools.

Deputy McGrath highlighted the fact that capital expenditure diminished significantly during the economic crisis and we currently had a serious infrastructural deficit. He made the argument against a backdrop of historically low interest rates and the view from the EU that low interest rates will continue for some time. I call on the Minister for Finance to reconsider this matter and for a debate in this House on the sale of AIB before the matter is concluded.

I welcome the new traffic management measures introduced by Dublin City Council, albeit that they have been introduced in a haphazard fashion. There has been a devastating road traffic accident today on the Kimmage Road Lower, in which a vehicle overturned, and I hope that nobody has been hurt. We need to look at road safety more vigorously in this country and I call for a debate on the subject in this House.

The Intoxicating Liquor (Amendment) Bill 2017 passed Second Stage in this House on 12 April. When I raised this a fortnight ago, the Leader promised that Committee and Remaining Stages of the Bill would have been debated by tomorrow and I am disappointed that this will not now happen.

I have submitted amendments to the Minister for Justice and Equality to address the technical issues the Government flagged on Second Stage to ensure that all licensed premises would be allowed to open on Good Friday. My staff have spoken with the relevant officials in the Department of Justice and Equality and were informed that they have drawn up a list of amendments. We have no difficulty with this as it is in everyone's interest that the Bill does exactly what it is intended to do and ensures that every licensed premises is open on Good Friday, something upon which all parties in this House had agreed.

We have spoken with the Department again today and it appears that a draft memo of the Government amendments went to all relevant Departments last Friday, with a response expected in approximately five days.

I understand the draft memorandum then has to go to Cabinet for approval. Once again, I ask that the Leader firmly sets out when Committee Stage of this Bill will be scheduled in Government time, as promised.

Today, the chief executive of AIB has acknowledged the role played by taxpayers in the bailout of his bank. The sheer scale of the taxpayer bailout of €20 billion should warrant a more transparent approach to any potential sale of this State-owned bank. Any plan to sell part of this public asset should be clear in its reasoning. The plan to sell up to 25% of the shares has been announced with the Minister, Deputy Noonan, providing little or no rationale. This is a profitable bank from which the State received €250 million in dividends last year.

There is no reason AIB should not be kept as a State bank to invest in our economy and to operate in competition with the private banking sector. The only reasoning offered so far is that state banks are not successful. This is not true. There is no basis for this whatever. Some of the best performing banks in Europe, such as those in Germany, are state banks. Every bank in this State that collapsed was a private bank. In one of his final acts as Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan is not being honest with taxpayers. These are the people who bailed out AIB and ultimately own 99.9% in shares. It is no surprise that AIB was far more receptive to public pressure on issues such as the standard variable rates and the sales to vulture funds. With any proposed sale, we will lose accountability. Even when it was State owned, they had to be brought kicking and screaming before the finance committee to examine the variable rates. That process is ongoing. When it is privatised we will have no accountability whatsoever. There needs to be a full debate and clarity provided on this and I would welcome Deputy Noonan coming into this House to explain why he wants to sell it now and why he is not negotiating the fiscal rules in order to allow us to spend any dividends from AIB in capital funding. We need explanations because it is the people who suffered most, the SMEs, the mortgage holders and the rural branch users who will now be at the mercy of unaccountable private investors. This is a huge price to pay in order to cobble together a legacy for the Minister, Deputy Noonan. It is a bad deal. We are not in September 2008 where my colleagues here to my left had to huddle into a room.

Sinn Féin supported the bank guarantee.

We did not vote for the bank guarantee. Let us make this clear.

Leader, please.

Yes it did. It is on the record.

We did not. I want to clear this up. On 17 October -----

I ask the Senator to take a second. Respect the Chair. The Leader has ample time to respond later and make his case. Do not interrupt the speaker. It is bad manners. I hate crossing the Leader. Senator Conway-Walsh, please conclude.

The Leader was notorious for his heckling when he was in the Dáil-----

Do not enrage the situation.

It may be his last day as Leader.

-----and he has continued doing that.

We are in a very different position now, in that we have the time to sort out a good deal with regard to AIB for the people. We are not huddled together in a room. Sinn Féin did not support the bank guarantee when it came back to the Dáil in October of that year, I want to make that clear. We have an opportunity now and I appeal to Deputy Noonan to come into the House and have a rational debate on this and provide the transparency and honesty that people need around this.

Hear, hear.