Michael Noonan, "People were duped"
Fianna Fáil has accused the Fine Gael leader of trying to buy votes with his promise to compensate small Eircom shareholders who lost money.
Michael Noonan said today that the cost of his proposal to allow small investors to offset their Eircom losses against taxable income would be €80m.
In a statement, he said that people were duped into believing that Eircom was a sound investment for their savings, and were "seduced" by the Government into buying shares at a much higher price than that recommended by the board of the company.
Mr Noonan said that such people would be very reluctant to participate in any future flotations of state companies, and that his proposal was designed to restore their confidence.
Tonight, the Fine Gael finance spokesman, Jim Mitchell, defended the plan claiming it would make up for the way people were duped into the scheme by government hype.
