Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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122. To ask the Minister for Finance the total allocated budget per annum for hiring external consultancy firms for his Department's campaign for the relocation of the European Banking Authority; the costs to date; the name of the firms involved to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17444/17]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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My officials have been engaging with relevant stakeholders in order to further progress the goal of relocating the European Banking Authority to Ireland, post the completion of the negotiations between the EU and the United Kingdom. This has included meetings with the European Commission in order to highlight the benefits of relocating the Authority to Ireland. The meetings with the EBA have in addition sought to determine the needs of the Authority and its staff, after they are relocated from London.

Also, Minister Murphy met with Vice President Dombrovskis (Vice-President for the Euro and Social Dialogue, also in charge of Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union) in March. The issue of the EBA was raised by the Minister who outlined the benefits of Dublin as a location for the Authority.

I would point out, that the European Commission launched a public consultation on the operations of the European Supervisory Authorities (European Banking Authority, European Securities and Markets Authority and European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority) on the 21st of March. It is expected a legislative proposal from the Commission will follow in due course.

In the consultation the Commission challenges the structure of the European Supervisory Authorities, which currently mirrors the traditional tripartite nature of the financial industry. It has raised the question of whether there are potential benefits from merging the EBA with EIOPA, which is based in Frankfurt.

Due to this uncertainty surrounding the future of the EBA, it is unlikely a final decision on its location will be made in the near future. A decision may only be made once the legislative proposal on reforming the European Supervisory Authorities has been agreed. 

As the timeline for a decision is not immediate and will be dependent on the outcome of the Public consultation, I do not consider any need to engage external consultancy firms at this stage to support our bid for the EBA. The resources currently available in my Department are sufficient to manage the process.