"Since then, the stock has performed well and markets have performed well so my commentary would generally be these things come and go so if you have a market place that's there, if you have a willing investor set that understand the story now, then it's often opportune to take that when it's there," AIB chief executive Bernard Byrne told a parliamentary committee.

"As of close last night, the total value of cash received plus the 71 percent of the market value actually equates to the 20.8 billion euros (£18.4 billion)(the state invested in AIB). I can't tell you what will happen next in terms of valuations, so I would encourage people to look at sell down at this point in time."

(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Mark Potter)