ICC Bank staff are likely to have to wait at least four years before receiving any benefit from their shares through the sale of the State institution to Bank of Scotland.
Benefit will then be distributed over the following 10 years or more, according to the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy.
However, Mr McCreevy assured the Dail that employment guarantees for staff were copperfastened and there was no "out" for the Bank of Scotland on this.
Mr Derek McDowell, Labour's finance spokesman, had claimed the terms and conditions for the sale were "only a belt and braces exercise".
The Dail passed a motion, allowing the sale of the Minister's 85 per cent share in ICC Bank. The Exchequer will receive £234 million (€297 million) from Bank of Scotland and £19.8 million from the Employee Share Option Trust (ESOT) for the 9.9 per cent stake in ICC it is purchasing.
The Scottish bank valued ICC at £275 million, about 30 per cent more than an offer from Bank of Ireland last year. Mr McCreevy reserved the right to accept a better offer, which had to be at least 10 per cent more, on or before January 16th, 2001.
The Minister's 85 per cent share capital excludes ICC shares for the employees' share ownership plan. ICC shares will be swapped for Bank of Scotland shares and that 5 per cent will be worth about £40,000 to each staff member. A purchase of 9.9 per cent by staff for £19.8 million would be worth another £20,000 to each staff member.
Fine Gael's finance spokesman, Mr Michael Noonan, could not understand why it would take four years. The Minister said the shares would go into the trust and the way ESOTs were set up it "is a considerable time before employees can cash those particular shares. The same applies to Aer Lingus and certainly to the Eircom ESOT."
Mr McDowell referred to the experience of National Westminster Bank which was bought by Royal Bank of Scotland a year ago. The latter guaranteed that the terms and conditions of the workforce at NatWest's Irish subsidiary - Ulster Bank - would be guaranteed into the future, but Mr McDowell claimed that "nothing of the kind" was currently happening.
Mr McCreevy said, however, that the ICC chairman, Mr Phil Flynn, a former senior trade union leader, was "instrumental in ensuring that guarantees of employment were copper-fastened with any potential purchasers. It has been copperfastened with the Bank of Scotland which has no out in this deal".
When deputies raised concerns about the absence of independent institutions like ICC from the market, Mr McCreevy said there was major consolidation in the financial area. "I am afraid there is no place for small banking-type operations in the future," he added.
