Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Question 34: To ask the Minister for Finance the reason dated subordinated debt is included in the credit institutions financial support scheme; the representations received by him or his officials in respect of the inclusion of dated subordinated debt in the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38838/08]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Dated subordinated debt is part of the deposit base of a financial institution. The Government took the decision to safeguard all deposits of those credit institutions wishing to participate in the scheme following advice received from the Governor of the Central Bank and the Financial Regulator as to the impact of the turmoil in the international financial markets on the Irish banking system.

I should say that the objective of the guarantee is to provide confidence amongst senior investors in the wholesale capital markets. In recent years, as a result of tightening credit spreads, traditional investors in senior unsecured debt have increased their exposure to non-deferrable dated subordinated debt ("Lower Tier 2") in search of additional yield. Today, the overlap in the investor base for both senior and Lower Tier 2 is extremely high. Therefore, we feel it is important to the success of the guarantee to include dated subordinated liabilities in order to preserve capital market access for the Irish institutions going forward.

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Question 35: To ask the Minister for Finance the position regarding the Pricewaterhouse Cooper investigation into the balance sheets of the Irish banks covered by the credit institutions financial support scheme; the extent to which he has liaised with the Financial Regulator on the matter; the terms of reference for this investigation; if, having regard to the public interest in the reliability of the banks' balance sheets, this report will be made public; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38839/08]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Scheme provides a guarantee for covered institutions until 29 September 2010.

I have been advised by the Financial Regulator that it recently commissioned Price Waterhouse Coopers to conduct a review of loan portfolios of the covered credit institutions. PwC is currently progressing with this work and the Financial Regulator will keep me advised of progress as appropriate. The Deputy will appreciate that this review is highly commercially sensitive and accordingly the Financial Regulator will not be publishing the results of the PwC work.