Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 196: To ask the Minister for Finance his views on the decision of Bank of Ireland, a partially State-owned and fully State-guaranteed bank, to donate the proceeds of the sale of some of its art collection to charity and if this is consistent with the National Asset Management Agency position which has prohibited certain developers from making charitable contributions while indebted to the taxpayer; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41551/10]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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As I have previously said, the management of assets by Bank of Ireland, including the holding or display of artworks, is a matter for the Board of the Bank. I understand that the Bank's art collection dates back to the early 1970's and its primary purpose was to support emerging Irish artists rather than to create a corporate collection per se. Many of the important works were already donated to the State through two substantial donations in 1999 and 2008 to the Irish Museum of Modern Art. A further twelve works will be now be donated to the IMMA in advance of the upcoming sale of part of the BOI art collection.

I am advised that NAMA has no difficulty with a debtor making donations to charity if he has a surplus available after payment of interest, employee salaries, etc. What is not acceptable to the Agency is the making of charitable donations while the debtor is unable to meet debt servicing obligations.