Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Senator is quite right to raise this matter, and I am happy to provide clarity on it. Under section 8 of the Financial Services (Deposit Guarantee Scheme) Act 2009 as it stands, the period for repaying the Central Bank for a short-term advance it has provided is three months. We have consulted the European Central Bank on the matter and I can inform the House it is satisfied that two weeks is a sufficiently prompt time which does not create any monetary financing concerns for it. We sought the opinion of the ECB and it is happy with the two-week period. Therefore, I do not propose to accept the amendment.