Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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70. To ask the Minister for Finance the advice he has taken and received in respect of the reported difficulties of a bank (details supplied); the likely implications for Ireland and the euro of the difficulties in the German banking system; if he has made a risk assessment; his proposals to protect the Irish banking system and economy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29264/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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It would not be appropriate for me to comment in detail on media speculation concerning the performance of an individual foreign bank.

However, I can assure the Deputy that both my Department and the Central Bank are monitoring the situation very closely in collaboration with our EU colleagues.  In that respect my Department is not aware of any material financial exposure on the part of the Irish banks to the bank in question.

The Irish Banks are obviously impacted by a lot of the issues facing the European banking sector generally, including the low interest rate environment, weaker loan growth, increased regulatory costs, and the fallout from the UK referendum on membership of the EU. However, notwithstanding these headwinds, the underlying financial performance of the Irish banks has continued to remain strong throughout 2016. Nevertheless, the impact of the challenges that I have cited has clearly been reflected in the weakness and volatility we have seen in the share price performance of the Irish banks and across the sector.

It should also be noted that all significant banks in the EU are covered by comprehensive common supervisory, recovery and resolution regimes for ensuring long term financial and economic stability across the Union.  These Banking Union regimes, have created greater separation between the banking system and sovereigns, which is important in terms of limiting the impact of banking sector difficulties on taxpayers.