Opposition parties have been vocalising their anger against the appointment of an inside candidate to the role of Managing Director of AIB.

The bank agreed that  Colm Doherty would be paid a maximum of €500,000 – after the Government refused to permit the retention of his previous salary of €633,000.

Speaking in the Dail earlier – Labour Leader Eamon Gilmore said that the ‘Old Guard’ was still in place.

“We have a situation Taoiseach, where the banks are still calling the shots” he said.

“The old guards are still in place”.

“If you look at the boards of directors of the banks, for example -  apart from the public interest directors – the directors who are there at the moment were there at the time that the collapse happened and that the guarantee had to be introduced”.

“In Allied Irish Bank, 10 out of the 10 who are there now were there then” he added.