Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Question 62: To ask the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to any instances of banks refusing to provide student loans; his views that this is a problem at present; if he has any plans to address the issue or monitor the situation in the coming months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14957/12]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by the Central Bank that they do not have specific information in relation to the provision or refusal of student loans. The decision on whether or not to grant a loan to a student must remain a commercial decision for individual lending institutions. It is important that each lending institution is allowed to assess properly and independently the individual risks that it is considering accepting. Loans must be undertaken on a sustainable and prudential basis by financial institutions and conform fully with regulatory requirements both in relation to the financial institution itself and also the safeguarding of the consumer's interests. I have no plans to ask the Central Bank to take any particular action to address the question of student loans. The Central Bank has in place a Consumer Protection Code. This code applies to all financial entities regulated by the Central Bank. If a regulated entity is selling a financial product, including a student loan, to a person who is a "personal consumer" for the purposes of the code, then the regulated entity may only sell a loan product that is suitable for the consumer based on the information that has been supplied by the consumer. Provision 5.9 of the code requires that prior to offering, recommending, arranging, or providing a credit product to a personal consumer, a lender must carry out an assessment of affordability to ascertain the consumer's likely ability to repay the debt, over the duration of the agreement. A copy of the Central Bank's Consumer Protection Code is available on the Central Bank's website, www.centralbank.ie.