Noonan says more likely Allied Irish Banks IPO will be in H1 2017

DUBLIN, May 11 (Reuters) - Ireland (Other OTC: IRLD - news) will more likely launch its planned sale of a 25 percent stake in state-owned Allied Irish Banks in the first half of 2017 rather than later this year, finance minister Michael Noonan said on Wednesday.

"We're considering the position," he told reporters. "It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) 's less likely we'll go in the last quarter of this year. It's more likely that we'll go in the first half of next year, if the market corrects."

Noonan added that there was nothing in the new government's policy programme that should concern the country's banks and that, despite opposition pressure, it did not plan to bring in legislation to hand the central bank powers to set rates in the mortgage market. (Reporting by Padraic Halpin; editing by Stephen Addison)