Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will follow on from Senator Reilly's point. I mentioned this issue on Second Stage and while we support the Bill we have concerns along the lines Senator Reilly mentioned, which I put to the Minister on Second Stage.

It is still not clear to us how the money that the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland will give to the retail banks will be monitored, in terms of the level of lending by SBCI, the sectors to which it will lend, the mark ups and the terms of the loans. The best way of doing this is for the SBCI to have a banking licence and to do this itself. I think this is important. If the banks are not doing what the Minister expects them to do in terms of lending this money out into the economy, then the SBCI could do it. The only way that SBCI could do that is by having a banking licence. We strongly support this amendment.