Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 21:

In page 17, between lines 14 and 15, to insert the following:"(8) A regulated financial service provider within the meaning of section 2 of the Central Bank Act 1942 shall not be deemed to be a public body by

reason of the exercise of supervisory, regulatory or resolution powers over that provider by the Central bank of Ireland or the Minister for Finance.".

The purpose of this amendment is to exempt regulated financial service providers from being public bodies for the purposes of FOI legislation and, therefore, ensure they remain outside the scope of the Bill.

This provision avoids any doubt that a regulated financial service provider would become a public body on the basis that it was directly or indirectly controlled by the Central Bank of Ireland or the Minister for Finance by reason of the exercise of supervisory, regulatory or resolution powers over the entity. As much as any commercial State body, financial institutions in which the State has a majority shareholding would be subject to an uneven competitive market environment if they were found inadvertently to be subject to freedom of information legislation relative to their private competitors. This exemption has been drafted to seek to ensure it encompasses any future situation in which a financial institution might be perceived to have come under State control.