Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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83. To ask the Minister for Finance if his Department or the Central Bank has inquired as to whether there are recordings in the other banks covered by the blanket guarantee surrounding the events before and after the bank guarantee in September 2008; if they have made efforts to secure any such recordings; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32642/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware banks are required to record phone calls for a variety of reasons. I have not sought access to these recordings as under statute the Garda Síochána are the body responsible for criminal investigations in the State. I understand that the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation have requested access to various documents/materials in the banks, including audio recordings, and that the banks have fully complied with these investigations to date. It would be completely inappropriate for the Department of Finance to act outside of its legal powers and interfere with any investigation that could compromise potential future criminal or civil investigations by the bodies responsible under statute. Any phone calls that are relevant around this period may feature as part of the forthcoming banking inquiry for which the legislation is currently before the House. Under the proposed legislation responsibility is assigned exclusively to the Houses of the Oireachtas to determine the requirement for a formal inquiry, the terms of reference of that inquiry and the procedural and organisational aspects of the inquiry.

Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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84. To ask the Minister for Finance the steps he and his officials are taking regarding ensuring the public and businesses are adequately informed on the Single Euro Payments Area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32650/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The aim of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) project is to create a single market for euro-denominated retail payments. SEPA is an EU initiative that will change the way that these payments are processed across Europe. SEPA will allow payment systems users to make euro-denominated retail electronic payments to payees located in any of the participating countries, using a single payment account and a single set of payment instruments (the participating countries are the EU member states, together with Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Monaco).

In order to raise awareness of SEPA, a communications campaign entitled “Ready for Sepa” began at the end of January 2013 and this culminates in Autumn 2013. This communications campaign is aimed primarily at businesses as SEPA will predominately affect businesses and the campaign is part-funded by the Department of Finance and the participating banks in Ireland. Advertising has appeared in print media, radio and online. The main message of the campaign is to raise awareness and direct businesses to talk to their bank and software provider to ensure a successful migration to SEPA. More information can be found on the website www.readyforsepa.ie. Coupled with this, all of the Commercial banks are advertising separately in the media and communicating directly with their customers.

SEPA comes into full effect on 1 February 2014 and businesses will need to ensure that payroll, direct debit and accounting systems are SEPA-ready. SEPA will introduce new business rules in relation to retail electronic payments and implement common standards in all participating countries for issuing and executing the underlying payment instructions.

The main change for consumers will be how their bank account will be identified for the purposes of making and receiving payments. The BIC (Bank Identifier Code) and IBAN (International Bank Account Number) will be used instead of the National Sort Code and Account Number that they currently use.

The implementation of SEPA within Ireland is overseen by the National Payments Plan (NPP) Steering Committee, which was established in 2012 to modernise the way payments are made in Ireland. In this regard, an NPP-SEPA sub-group has been formed, consisting of representatives of consumers, businesses, Government and banks.