Noonan accused of surrender on bail-out

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has been accused of “surrendering” any hope of a bank bail-out debt deal from the EU.

Opposition parties said plans to sell-off State-owned AIB amounted to a huge climb-down by the Government in its long-running battle to get compensation from Brussels for moving to protect the European banking system.

After insisting they had received a “game changing” promise of a retro-recapitalisation deal with the EU in 2012, ministers have now moved to engage Goldman Sachs to advise on an AIB sell-off, which Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil claim marks a Government U-turn.