Junior Minister at the Department of Finance Brian Hayes said today that the awarding of a €3m golden handshake to a former AIB managing director cannot be "undone".
It has emerged that Colm Doherty received the payment after AIB was told to terminate his contract by the then Finance Minister Brian Lenihan, as a condition of the bank's second bailout by the State.
Mr Hayes said that the Government is committed to ensuring that such payments are no longer made to banking executives in the State-funded banks.
"This is a legacy issue in connection with the contract that Mr Doherty had with the bank, and you can’t undo something that’s already been put in place," he said.
"What’s important is that the new Government have a very strong policy commitment when it comes to remuneration and pension entitlements for those contracts that will be negotiated under our watch."