Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am referring to amendment No. 5 which provides the additional layer of protection the Deputy seeks. I reiterate that I am informed that the amendment is not necessary and would not make for good drafting from a legislative point of view. However, if the Deputy proposes to press it, the Government will be in a position to accept it.

On amendment No. 4, it is important to note that different countries have entered into this arrangement in different ways. What was offered was what is known as a commitment fee, whereby the State would be in receipt of an amount of money each year - I believe the sum is €1.8 billion - if it were to forgo national approval of the loan facility if it was ever called upon. We decided to forgo the commitment fee to have flexibility in terms of the repayment in tranches and to provide for national approval by the Minister and the Government, if required. This is a good approach which provides an extra layer of protection in the legislation and the Government seeks the support of the Oireachtas for this provision.

In so far as amendment No. 4 is concerned, it proposes to transfer responsibility from the Minister to the Oireachtas in circumstances where the resolution waterfall has been exhausted. This refers to circumstances in which one has a bail-in of at least 8% and one then moves to the mutualised national compartment and thereafter to the mutualised compartments of other states before reverting to our national compartment. At that point, the single resolution fund will attempt to borrow and that is the point at which one seeks the credit line. In that circumstance, it is necessary that certainty is given in the agreement to the other participating member states in respect of a quick turnaround for achieving agreement, in this case within four days. In that regard, it is appropriate to give this oversight power to the Minister and the Government.