Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We have made significant progress in the Irish Presidency on the single supervisory mechanism which was the first major step that has now been agreed. We have also got agreement on the capital requirements directive, CRD IV, which the Deputy will recall was the directive which decided on the capital requirements of banks and introduces the new Basel rules with which banks must comply. The file now under discussion is the resolution directive and is the next essential step. It is not only the eurozone countries that are involved in the banking union. The other ten "outs", as they call them, are also involved and there must be agreement among the 27 but, so far, progress is in accordance with the timetable. We had a very good political discussion on banking resolution at the last ECOFIN and the Irish Presidency is bringing forward the bank resolution file again to the June meeting of ECOFIN, which I think is on 21 June in Luxembourg.

I am not quite sure whether we will agree it there. That will be a matter for the colleagues around the table but we will be coming close. The ground has narrowed quite a lot. When the single supervisory mechanism is in place and when there is agreement on the resolution file, the work which is progressing in parallel on the functions of the ESM and its ability to recapitalise banks will come into place. There is not much change in the timetable. There is a slight variation on when the single supervisory mechanism comes in but it was always intended that the ability of the fund to recapitalise the banks would be at the end of the process.

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