The suggestion by the Minister for Finance that there is no difference between a promised cash dividend of €250m due to the state from Bank of Ireland and the alternative of the receipt of ordinary shares amounting to just under 16% of the Bank, could not be further from the truth.

As they say, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

The government is hiding behind the delay in EU approval of the banks’ restructuring plans. It is clear, however, that the delay in EU approval arises because, despite the Minister’s rhetoric, the Irish banks are in an extremely weakened state.

In the 15 months since the bank guarantee, the government has taken a series of ad hoc initiatives, but has not been able to put our banking system on a firm footing. Irish households and small businesses still face a credit famine.

The NAMA process is now mired in confusion and delay, as values appear to be falling far below levels indicated in the NAMA business plan. The non-payment of the Bank of Ireland dividend shows that we are on the slow road to nationalisation in the least productive way possible.

At the time of the recapitalisation, the Labour Party argued for the far simpler and more cost-effective approach of taking the banks into temporary public ownership.

The Minister argued this morning that the €250m dividend was not particularly needed as the payment was destined for the National Pension Reserve Fund which would not be drawn down until at least 2025.

This is an extraordinary line of argument from the Minister, which contrasts starkly with what senior banking executives and Fianna Fail Ministers from the Taoiseach down were saying at the time of the €7bn recapitalisation of AIB and Bank of Ireland.

To a man, they argued that the preference shares would deliver a gilt-edged 8% yield. Taxpayers were assured they were getting a good deal.

What in the meantime of Anglo Irish Bank? Taxpayers pumped €4bn into the bank and are now being told that they will have to fork out another €6bn at a minimum. The NAMA process and subsequent stress tests carried out for the Minister for Finance have shown that its assets are worth far less than previously thought. The bank is a black hole in terms of the demands likely to be put on the taxpayer to sustain it.

Ironically, the publication of the DDDA report by John Gormley is likely to show that it was Taoiseach Brian Cowen, as Minister for Finance, who allowed the incestuous relationship between Anglo and the DDDA to flourish. At the height of the boom, this toxic relationship facilitated headline-grabbing deals such as the acquisition Irish Glass Bottle site. Is John Gormley protecting Brian Cowen in failing to published the DDDA report?

Mr. Cowen also allowed the continuation of stamp-duty and other tax avoidance measures which served to line the pockets of developers while inflating the bubble further.