Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Independent)
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61. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will obtain from the Central Bank a report setting out the numbers of staff at the Central Bank dedicated to on-site audit/inspection of the banks, in particular providing aggregate particulars of their professional qualifications, for example, accountancy, audit, legal and their years experience in property investment, development and construction loan financing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41485/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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According to the Central Bank’s Annual Report 2012, which is available on the Central Bank website, the Central Bank employed 1,394 staff at the end of 2012, comprising both permanent and fixed term contract staff. Of this, 293.5 were assigned to Central Banking functions, 622 were assigned to Regulatory areas and 478.5 to Operations. A further 9 were assigned to the Investor Compensation Company Limited. I have been informed by the Central Bank that the Banking Supervision Division has 61 staff currently undertaking on-site inspection work. The Central Bank has a highly educated workforce; the table below outlines the educational qualifications of the 622 staff working in regulatory areas. While there are no statistics available in relation to specific experience in property investment, development and construction, I am informed that the staff have a multiple range of experiences and skill-sets across all of the Central Bank’s functional areas.

In terms of professional qualifications, I have been informed by the Central Bank that at least 130 staff in the Central Bank have professional accountancy qualifications while the following table outlines the level of legal qualifications.