Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I know it is beyond the scope of the Bill in terms of the Long Title, but we can change the Long Title on Report Stage if we wish. That is clear. The point is that this is relevant to what we are discussing here. Whether it is the Central Bank or the Minister directing it to do so is immaterial, and obviously there is an issue in that regard, but the real issue is that these targets should be published, and the Minister can ensure they are published. The mortgage arrears targets are published on a quarterly basis. The Department of Finance publishes its own figures.

I hope the Minister will go beyond the reasons he has given for not doing this in his next contribution. Why should we not publish the quarterly targets set down by the Central Bank? Does the Minister think it is not in the public interest to have them disclosed and published, so we will be able to measure whether the banks are dealing with this in an appropriate way and with the appropriate actions? Does he believe it is best that they are kept private? In light of the fact that we are establishing a company which will on-lend to some of the institutions that have targets laid down for them, does the Minister not think it is appropriate that transparency be brought to this issue at the time the company is being established?

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