Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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185. To ask the Minister for Finance his views on whether the accounting policy (details supplied) is consistent with his assurances that banks do not systemically overvalue assets in their published accounts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7786/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is aware,  the rules relating to the correct valuation of assets are determined by the relevant accounting standards and I have alluded to this in my reply to a previous Parliamentary Question on 28th January. These rules apply to all categories of assets, including assets classified as held for sale. The Deputy will also be aware that it is the responsibility of the Board of Directors of a company to ensure that these rules are properly applied and that this is subject to an annual independent external audit review.

Nothing has been brought to my attention to suggest that these rules have not been applied correctly in relation to banks. Accordingly I can confirm that the accounting policy extract supplied by the Deputy is not inconsistent with my previous comments that I did not accept the premise that the Irish banks have systematically overvalued loans in their published accounts. 

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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186. To ask the Minister for Finance if the Central Bank has ever investigated any bank in the State for hiding losses in its accounts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7789/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I have been advised by the Central Bank that the Bank is not in a position to provide me with a response to this question. However, if the Deputy can provide more specific details on the nature of his query, I will revert to the Bank for a reply.