AIB, taxpayers and small investors

Sir, – Minister for Finance Michael Noonan intends selling shares to small investors as well as institutions. It would suit him better to reimburse the small investors burned by AIB’s 2008 collapse. We, the citizens, bailed this bank out at a huge cost to hospitals, education, infrastructure, etc. Retiring in late 2007, I purchased a significant number of AIB shares. The bank itself at that stage had gone rogue, but the Irish regulatory system failed us. So, Mr Noonan, you made a huge show of paying anonymous bondholders. Anything left over for Paddy the Serf? Stop laughing, reader. – Yours, etc,

JOHN CUFFE,

Dunboyne, Co Meath.