Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

I cannot answer for what has been happening since 1995. I have only been Minister for Defence for the past six months. One of my first acts was to seek an increase in contribution from the banks. I am sorry negotiations have dragged on for so long. I have made it clear to the Irish Bankers' Federation that any agreement will be retrospective to the time I took over as Minister for Defence. I am confident there will be a final agreement on this matter within the next two weeks.

There are two elements to the cost of providing the Army for cash escorts. First, we pay wages to the troops, which we would pay anyway. Second, there is also a security duty allowance, a subsistence allowance, the cost of transport and in some cases, the cost of aerial surveillance. The banks have made the point in negotiations that we would spend the first amount of money in any case, as we would pay the troops even if they were confined to barracks. The banks' position is that the contribution to the Department of Defence covers the extra cost. The position I have taken, which I think the IBF has accepted, is that when we were looking at the level of standing army required, we had to take into account that this was one of the duties of the Army. In other words, we could have fewer troops if we did not have to provide this service. The IBF has largely accepted that view.

There are some outstanding matters on how the cost is divided between the banks and other financial institutions such as An Post. There is also an issue surrounding an escalation clause on how much the fee is to be increased each year. The Department of Finance dealt with the matter centrally, which allocated the initial sum between the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Department of Defence. When I approached the Department of Finance about this, officials wanted to tie both Departments in at the same time. I could not do that as the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform did its own deal last year. The next time I have to answer questions in the House, I am confident that this agreement will be in place.

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