Government suffers embarrassment over Dáil vote on AIB shares

There is embarrassment for the Government this afternoon after the Dáil passed a motion that they should not sell off any shares in AIB until the fiscal rules are changed.

Labour had put forward the motion saying the rules needed to be changed so that any proceeds from selling off the bank would be used for infrastructure investment rather than paying down debt.

However the Government failed to call a vote to block the motion so it passed, with some observers saying Fine Gael were clearly distracted by the leadership campaign.

The Government can however ignore the Dáil vote and proceed with a sale if it wishes.