Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I am in possession and a number of points were made in speaking to section 1 by a number of Deputies. I was in the course of beginning to deal with them.

I had outlined the statistical data available to the Central Bank with regard to the estimate of the sums covered by this legislation. On the more general question raised by Deputy Burton about the sums covered by the guarantee under the credit institutions legislation, statistical data from the Central Bank and the Financial Services Authority of Ireland shows that as of March 2009, the total deposits in the Irish banking system amounted to €275 billion of which approximately €170 billion was owned by Irish residents. With regard to the numbers of accounts, evidence from a 2007 survey would suggested that about 8 million deposits were owned by Irish residents. Information from the Registrar of Credit Unions shows that 2.93 million members held €12 billion of deposits in the credit unions at the end of last year.

Disaggregated deposit data is not collected on a routine basis. However, data collected last year on an ad hoc basis would suggest that practically all deposit accounts by number would have a balance of less than €100,000. A survey of the main Irish domestic banks which was undertaken in June 2008 indicated that 97% of accounts by number had a balance of less than €50,000 and that 26% of accounts had, by value, a balance of less than €50,000. This suggests that while only a small fraction of accounts, by number, have a balance in excess of €50,000, those make up a large proportion of the value of total deposits. Some 3% of accounts by number account for almost 75% of the value of accounts. This points to the fact that both the total value of accounts over €50,000 and the average balance in these accounts is extremely large. From the survey it is not possible to do the above analysis with regard to €100,000, but it is possible to estimate roughly the value of deposits covered by a scheme with a compensation limit of €100,000. I outlined the total values in the earlier part of my reply before I moved the adjournment. I will provide more detailed tabular breakdowns as requested by Deputy Bruton and Deputy Burton.

Deputy Rabbitte referred to the position and status of Alan Dukes as a member of the board of Anglo Irish Bank and described him as a public interest director. He is not, of course, a public interest director because the bank was nationalised by legislation enacted by this House earlier this year. Hence, he is a director of the board appointed by the Minister, as are all the directors of Anglo Irish Bank. That is his position. He spoke and wrote about the subject for the bank recently, because evidence was given to an Oireachtas committee by the directors of the bank who explained the position of the bank to members who questioned them.

Deputy Burton raised the question of next week's proposal on the extension of the guarantee beyond the guarantee period for some categories of medium-term debt, which is in separate legislation. I have checked out the matter in the interval and this Bill stands as a separate Bill on the advice of the Attorney General, who believes a permanent feature of our banking landscape such as a deposit guarantee scheme should be kept separate from measures which were occasioned by the banking crisis or the financial emergency. It is not part of any deep-seated political or administrative conspiracy.

Likewise, the ruling of the Chair on what is acceptable as an amendment is not something my Department ever influences or seeks to influence. We had no function on this matter so it was not a "traditional attitude of the Department of Finance", to quote Deputy Burton, which resulted in her amendment being ruled out of order. It is simply the procedures of this House, for which I am not accountable, although I am accountable for many matters, which I accept.

Like the guarantee, the legislation on the extension of the guarantee is commonplace in the sense that the strategy has been adopted by virtually every other country in the EU and it will be the subject of a separate debate next week. I made an announcement about it in the budget.

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