Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The resolution fund builds up over an eight-year period and it is only at the end of this period that it will be fully mutualised. During the intermediary steps in year one, member states will be using national funds and a very small proportion of the mutualised fund. Bridging finance arises in a scenario where a bank in a particular euro jurisdiction gets into difficulty and when one goes down through the cascade of assets that require to be bailed in and gets to the resolution fund, if the latter is not fully mutualised one could work one's way through it very quickly and there still would be an amount to be funded. The purpose of the bridging finance is to provide a credit line that may be called upon during that period as necessary. The idea is that as the fund builds up, there would not be as much need for bridging finances as there was during the intermediary stages. We do not plan to bring forward the relevant legislation before this session, nor, probably, in the life of this Government. Nevertheless, we see it coming down the line in the short to medium term rather than the long term.