Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

On the drawing up of the framework for the schemes to give effect to the guarantees provided for in the legislation and to answer a previous question that I may not have answered, the Minister for Finance has already made it clear that applications from the subsidiaries of parent bodies incorporated and regulated outside this jurisdiction for inclusion in the guarantee scheme will be considered where the subsidiaries have substantial engagement in the economy on a retail basis, subject to their meeting the terms and conditions of the scheme. No more than in the case of the six named institutions covered by the initial Government announcement, our authorities will need to be satisfied that the necessary terms and conditions are met in each case. Each applying organisation will also need to decide whether it wishes to participate in the guarantee scheme when the full terms of the scheme are considered by it.

We have already made it clear, both domestically and in our communications with other EU member states and EU authorities, that the guarantee scheme is designed to ensure financial stability. It is not intended to provide a basis for predatory activity based on an unfair competitive advantage, which has been made clear to all relevant credit institutions in Ireland and will be reflected in the terms of the scheme.

It is important to point out that the Minister for Finance is reflecting on the issues raised with him in his finalisation of the detailed scheme. As Deputy Kenny stated, the question of what terms and conditions will apply to individual credit institutions will be determined by the criteria set out therein. They will not be exactly the same in every case. The idea is to provide a guarantee scheme that reflects the commercial realities of the situation. The purpose of providing the scheme is to try to ensure we protect the interests of the economy and the taxpayer.

See this speech in context