Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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136. To ask the Minister for Finance the amount of money which has been paid into the Credit Institutions Resolution Fund since its establishment in 2012; the names of the credit institutions that have contributed; the amount they have contributed for each of the years since 2012; the amounts that have been paid out and to whom; the amount in the fund presently; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15461/17]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Government put €250 million into the Credit Institutions Resolution Fund which was established by section 10(1) of the Central Bank and Credit Institutions (Resolution) Act 2011 (as amended) (2011 Act). The Central Bank manages and administers the Resolution Fund. The purpose of the Resolution Fund under the 2011 Act is to provide a source of funding for the resolution of financial instability in, or an imminent serious threat to the financial stability of, an authorised credit institution. In particular the Resolution Fund may be used for:

- the payment of financial incentives for transfers;

- providing capital for a bridge bank (details of a bridge bank are set out in Part 4 of the 2011 Act);

- meeting the expenses of the Central Bank incurred when discharging functions under the Act, and

- making certain payments under the Act, for example, the payment of expenses to an assessor appointed under the Act.

To date, the resources of the Resolution Fund have been utilised to fund the resolution of 5 credit unions. In the case of 3 of those credit unions, the resolution action taken was a directed transfer under the 2011 Act, and the Resolution Fund funded a financial incentive for the transferee. The 2 remaining cases were liquidation cases, where no incentive was paid from the Resolution Fund in respect of those resolutions. In each of the 5 cases, the Central Bank discharged its third party resolution-related costs against the Resolution Fund.

The amount paid or payable to date in relation to resolution cases from the Resolution Fund is circa €31.3 million. This was for incentives paid in each of the 3 outlined credit union transfer resolution cases as follows:

- Newbridge Credit Union Limited: c €27 million

- Howth Sutton Credit Union Limited: €2.15 million

- Killorglin Credit Union Limited: €2.15 million

The Resolution Fund is administered by the Central Bank and I have been informed that the names of the individual institutions that have contributed to the fund cannot be provided due to confidentiality reasons. Under section 12(2) of the Resolution Act 2011, the Minister for Finance is entitled to be reimbursed from the Resolution Fund for all contributions to the fund and for any financial incentive provided.

All credit institutions as defined in the 2011 Act excluding those exempted under section 3(2) paid into the Resolution Fund in 2012, 2013 and 2014. In 2015 the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD) was adopted and Member States banks were required to pay into a separate domestic BRRD fund. In 2016 Irish banks came under the remit of the Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM) and all BRRD contribution were transferred to that fund. As credit unions do not come within the scope of the BRRD they have remained within the Resolution Fund. As per the financial statements for the Resolution Fund the following levies have been collected to date:

- Period 28 October 2011 to 31 December 2012 - €2.445 million

- Year ended 31 December 2013 - €9.621 million

- Year ended 31 December 2014 - €9.299 million

- Year ended 31 December 2015 - €7.310 million

- Year ended 31 December 2016 - €7.659 million 

I have been informed by the Central Bank that to date, as per the financial statements, net resolution costs of circa €30 million have been expensed through the Resolution Fund with the fund currently holding €255 million with another €2 million due in outstanding levies.