THE FINANCE MINISTER has ruled out any reintroduction of bonuses for top bankers – until results improve.

Speaking to Bloomberg today, Noonan said that the reported request by AIB to reinstate bonus pay for top bankers would be given short shrift.

“The answer is sorry guys, much better performance required before we’ll even consider bonuses,” Noonan said at Bloomberg’s headquarters in New York today.

“If any executive wants to leave AIB, I’ll shake his hand and wish him fair passage as he leaves.”

Noonan said that the state-owned banks would have to continue to play ball with the government.

“While we’re holding 99 per cent of AIB, there’s no point in having those discussions with me,” Noonan said.

“It makes no sense, and it’s not a demand that I’m prepared to deal with.

AIB was bailed out with €21 billion, with the government saying that they expect to start looking for a buyer before the 2016 election.

Read: Noonan says bank debt deal cannot be ‘actively’ pursued until 2015

Read: AIB silent over bonus plan for top executives, government says policy hasn’t changed