Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)

As I already outlined in the House earlier this week, the Central Bank does not sell or oversee the sale of Israeli bonds. It is important to be clear as to the role of the Central Bank because it has been misrepresented repeatedly. To be clear again, the Central Bank's role under EU legislation is to assess the bond prospectus to ensure that it includes all the disclosure requirements of the EU prospectus regulation. Neither the issuer - in this case the State of Israel - nor the financial products become regulated or endorsed as a result of the assessment.

The Central Bank is designated as the Irish competent authority for the approval of securities prospectuses under the relevant regulation. As the competent authority, the Central Bank is responsible for assessing whether a prospectus has been drawn up in compliance with the disclosure requirements of the regulation. Once the bank is satisfied that the issuer has disclosed the required information, in the required manner as set out in the regulation so that investors can make an informed investment decision, there is no discretion and it must approve it. It is important to reiterate that by approving a prospectus, it does not endorse the issuer or the securities.

The Central Bank has been clear that it can only refuse the approval of a prospectus once it has the legal basis to do so. The Governor of the Central Bank in his correspondence to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on finance, public expenditure and reform and the Department of the Taoiseach set out this view. The Government's position on this matter has been clear and I have set it out to the House during the week.

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