51.— (1) Nothing in this Act or in any other enactment, and no rule of law, prevents the Minister, when providing a financial support facilitated by this Act or pursuant to any other enactment, from imposing any terms and conditions which any other provider of financial support to the relevant institution concerned would be entitled to impose or which the Minister considers desirable to impose in order to protect the public interest.

(2) In considering the terms and conditions to be imposed in respect of any future financial support the Minister may, insofar as those terms and conditions relate to bonus payments payable by the relevant institution concerned to its employees or officers, take into account—

(a) the extent of the financial support already provided to the relevant institution,

(b) the benefits already received, and to be received, by the relevant institution and its officers and employees and in particular the fact that those officers and employees have received or will receive the benefit of continued employment with the relevant institution by reason of that financial support,

(c) the fact that such bonuses are unlikely to have been paid if the State had not enabled the relevant institution to meet its financial and regulatory obligations through the provision of financial support, and

(d) the extent to which the circumstances giving rise to the necessity for financial support could not have been within the reasonable contemplation of the relevant institution and its officers and employees when the arrangements for bonus payments were concluded.

(3) In particular, nothing in this Act or any other enactment prevents the Minister from imposing such terms and conditions with regard to payment or non-payment or manner of payment or suspension or postponement of any performance bonuses payable by a relevant institution, wholly or partly in respect of, or wholly or partly referable to, any period during which the relevant institution benefited from financial support provided by the State.

(4) It shall not be lawful for a relevant institution to make any payment that would amount to a breach of such a term or condition.

(5) The provisions of this section are without prejudice to any defences or justifications for non-payment at law, and without prejudice to all legal entitlements the Minister has with regard to the terms and conditions he or she may impose as a condition of granting financial support.