Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)

Every Bill approved by the Government must be signed off by the Attorney General. By definition, a Bill cannot be published if the opinion of the Office of the Attorney General is that it is unconstitutional. Constitutional proofing of this Bill has been done and the Attorney General has advised that the powers of special managers are constitutional.

As to the special manager's qualifications, it is obvious that he or she would not be someone just in off the street who knew nothing about finance. It is up to the Central Bank to decide on an appropriate person. Such a person would need to know something about the management of a financial institution. A successful manager of a credit union would probably be an appropriate special manager, were such a person available. People's backgrounds would not rule them in or out as long as they had particular skill sets.

Of the 27 credit unions mentioned in the interim report as being impaired in one way or another or having inadequate reserves, the bank rather than the Minister is the regulator of the financial institutions, including the credit unions. It is up to the bank to decide what move it will make and when. In the normal course of events, my Department will be informed of anything that will occur. This time last year, my predecessor got fairly clear signals to the effect that the bank was about to move quickly to assist credit unions, but nothing has happened to date. The situation that emerged in the interim report did not seem to be as bad as suggested by the rumour mill. There is some urgency about some credit unions, but there is no immediate plan for the bank to go into any one in particular. The bank is examining the 27 unions' situations carefully, paying particular regard to the at-risk cases at the bottom of the scale.