Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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30. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she has examined the submission her Department received from Irish Rural Link requesting that a working group be set up by her Department encompassing representatives from her Department, the Department of Finance, the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, the Irish League of Credit Unions, the Credit Union Development Association, the Irish Postmasters Union, the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland and the Sparkasse Savings Bank Foundation for International Co-operation to investigate the establishment of a local public banking network here as committed to in the programme for Government; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37031/16]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Programme for a Partnership Governmentcontains a commitment to investigate, amongst other options, the German Sparkassen model for the development of local public banks that operate within well-defined regions.

The role of my Department is to work with other Departments and stakeholders to examine the feasibility of this model. I can confirm that my officials have been provided with details of a proposal based on the Sparkassen model by Irish Rural Link, which has also presented its proposals to the Department of Finance.

Senior officials from my Department recently met with their counterparts in the Department of Finance and have agreed to develop a work programme to examine the potential of the Sparkassen model and other models of local public banking, as referenced in the Programme for a Partnership Government.

The officials will meet again in January and hope to be in a position to conclude their work around the middle of next year. As part of their work, they will engage with relevant stakeholders, as required.