Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 80: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will provide details of the identity and role of any outside consultants presently involved in the operation of individual financial institutions. [19378/11]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The information the Deputy has requested is not held by my Department. The financial institutions covered by the State Guarantee use consultants in respect of many aspects of their operations. The Department of Finance does not compile a list of these consultants. I do however expect the banks to continue to control and reduce their cost base and ensure that they achieve value for money when engaging consultants.

The Deputy may be aware that in a reply to Parliamentary Question 169 from Deputy Pearse Doherty this week, I informed the House of details of the amounts AIB, Bank of Ireland, EBS and Irish Life and Permanent are spending on advisors, including lawyers, investment advisors and underwriters as part of their efforts to raise the €24 billion following the latest stress tests, and I will provide a copy to the Deputy.

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 81: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will define the role of the directors of the covered institutions appointed by him as public interest directors; and if he will elaborate on the reporting relationship in place between them and him. [19379/11]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The legal position is that any director appointed to the board of the covered institutions whether under the Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Scheme 2008 or otherwise is subject to the requirements of company law in relation to the discharge of their responsibilities as a company director. As such, the director is legally bound to act in what he or she believes are the interests of the separate legal entity that is the institution itself. These are the director's so called fiduciary responsibilities. To address the scope for actual and perceived conflicts between the fiduciary duties of the directors of financial institutions under company law and the wider public interest in circumstances that those institutions have received huge financial support from the State, legal clarity, not just to the role of the public interest director but to that of the entire boards of those institutions, was provided for under Section 48 of the Credit Institutions (Stabilisation) Act 2010. It provides that the overriding duty of directors of the covered institutions relates to the public interest as set out in the Act.

Accordingly, public interest directors do not have a formal reporting relationship to the Minister or to the Department of Finance. However, as Minister for Finance, I am strongly committed to ensuring that the boards of the covered institutions act at all times in a manner fully consistent with key public interest objectives for the banking sector.