The Government may be in a position to consider selling its shares in AIB next year, the Finance Minister has told the Dáil.
Michael Noonan said the State's total assets in the bank would have a value in excess of €11.6 billion.
Mr Noonan said no decision would be made on selling shares now and the immediate plan was to come up with a road map to ensure the taxpayers' investment in the bank is maximised.
There is no immediate pressure to sell the bank shares now, Minister Noonan said.
But he added that given the size of the national debt the State cannot afford to hang on to them indefinitely either.
Meanwhile, the minister also admitted in the Dáil that the rules around Personal Insolvency have to be tweaked.
Mr Noonan said that while the take-up of the service has been low, there are now over 850 cases in the system.
He said the changes to the legislation would be handled by the Department of Justice.
So far he said that AIB had agreed to 51 out of 62 proposals put forward by Personal Insolvency Practitioners.
Bank of Ireland had agreed to 45 proposals and PTSB backed 13 arrangements and vetoed seven.
Sinn Féin's Pearse Doherty said the system only allowed the banks to be brought to water but you could not make them drink.
