Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I will give a detailed reply to the Deputy's points on Report Stage. The point is to provide competitive banking services. There are local authorities which bank outside the NTMA. The State bodies that have already made use of these facilities have seen that it is a good way of providing these services. Many of them find it more comfortable to deal with the NTMA, as the philosophy and ethos of the agency are consistent with their own. Therefore, on the question of having a relationship with the NTMA and providing a competitive service, if the service it was providing was less competitive than where one was getting it already I presume one would not go there. Given the complexity of public finances, however, having the NTMA in charge of these arrangements, where they are relevant to non-commercial State bodies, or indeed Departments or local authorities, would provide a far greater degree of comfort for those authorities than would be the case otherwise. Perhaps it would be best to get the Deputy a more detailed note on the practicalities of this for Report Stage.

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