Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 21: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will provide details of the contact he and the Central Bank of Ireland have had with the European Banking Authority in relation to potential further recapitalisation of Irish banks under stress testing scenarios being used by the EBA; if any estimate is available of potential further recapitalisation of Irish banks; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31913/11]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Minister for Finance has had no direct contact with the European Banking Authority (EBA) in relation to potential further recapitalisation of the Irish banks. The Central Bank has, however, been engaged with the EBA in relation to the capitalisation of banks around Europe, along with regulators from other member states. Officials from the EBA do however present at various committees, for example, Ecofin, at which the Minister or his officials are present.

The Central Bank of Ireland has informed me that in October 2011, the EBA conducted a review of the capital requirements of the 90 European banks that participated in the 2011 EU-wide stress test against a more stringent set of conditions (mark-to-market of all sovereign exposures and removal of certain regulatory capital filters) and a higher capital ratio of 9% Core Tier 1. As the Irish PCAR stress test published in Mar-2011 was more conservative, all three Irish banks who participated in the 2011 EU-wide exercise are not required to undertake any further recapitalisation as a result of this EBA update exercise.