Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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69. To ask the Minister for Finance to outline the commitments entered into by him on behalf of the State as part of the European Union-approved Permanent TSB restructuring plan. [14995/15]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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70. To ask the Minister for Finance to detail the number of mortgages and the total value of mortgages Permanent TSB has agreed to sell as part of its European Union-approved restructuring plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14996/15]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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71. To ask the Minister for Finance to set out the nature of any cost-cutting measures agreed to by Permanent TSB under its European Union-approved restructuring plan; and whether the bank will reduce the number of employees as a result. [14997/15]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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72. To ask the Minister for Finance to detail the cuts to the salaries of executives at Permanent TSB agreed to under its European Union-approved restructuring plan. [14998/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 69 to 72, inclusive, together.

Firstly I would like to welcome the approval by the European Commission of the Permanent TSB Restructuring Plan last week. The approval is an important external validation that the plan contains a credible strategy to return Permanent TSB to profitability and brings to an end a period of uncertainty about what the future shape of the bank would look like which is important for all stakeholders including customers, staff and shareholders.

The Restructuring Plan includes a set of commitments which Permanent TSB will respect during the restructuring period.  Those commitments comprise, among other things, targets on cost reduction and deleverage of non-core assets, mostly non-core UK mortgages or Irish Commercial Real Estate. Moreover, Permanent TSB will operate "market opening measures" to facilitate the market entry of competitors, comprising a "services package" and a "customer mobility package".

Permanent TSB has published details of the key elements of the plan on it's website at .

The European Commission will publish their full decsision on their website in due course and my officials will advise you when this has occurred.

While the Restructuring Plan requires that Permanent TSB's cost to income ratio and annual operating expenses should not exceed pre-determined limits it should be noted that compliance with these commitments, and any actions required to meet them, is a matter for the Board and Management of Permanent TSB, who are responsible for the day to day management of the Group.

In relation to Irish mortgage loans, Permanent TSB has committed to reduce the value of defaulted Irish Tracker mortgages through a combination of measures, including cures and asset sales by a pre-determined date and according to a pre-determined schedule. I am advised by Permanent TSB that it is their clear preference that such a reduction would be achieved by way of completed treatments in order to cure the defaulted loans rather than other means. Such an objective provides the best outcome for affected customers. If the target cannot be met through such an approach or by other means, then Permanent TSB would be required by the Restructuring Plan to sell such loans within the pre-determined timelines.

The Deputy may also be aware that The Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2015 was published in January and second stage of the Bill was taken in the Dáil on 4 February. Since then, my officials have been in contact with the Central Bank and with the Office of the Attorney General to further progress the legislation.

It remains my intention to ensure that borrowers whose loans are sold by a regulated entity to a currently unregulated entity maintain the same protections as they had prior to the sale. The Bill will continue its progress through the legislative process and I look forward to further discussion of the Bill at Committee Stage.

The legislation is not retrospective. However, it will apply to all loans as defined, regardless of when they were acquired, thus capturing loan books that have already been sold. A similar approach was used in 2013 in relation to debt management firms.