Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

158. To ask the Minister for Finance the representation Ireland has in the governance and management of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25821/17]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Minister for Finance is Ireland’s representative on the Board of Governors at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).  This mirrors the position of other countries which are members of the EBRD.

Ireland shares a Constituency with Denmark, Lithuania and Kosovo in the EBRD. Denmark, Ireland and Lithuania have an agreement in place to rotate the three positions within that Constituency Office, namely: Director, Alternate Director and Advisor. Kosovo is currently not party to the agreement and it does not have a representative at the Office at this time but its interests are handled by the three positions in the Constituency.

Denmark had the largest shareholding (1.2%) in the Constituency and under the Constituency Agreement it, therefore, always has either the Director or Alternate Director positions. Ireland has the second largest shareholding (0.3%) and we rotate between the Director, Alternate Director and Advisor positions while Lithuania with the third largest shareholding (0.1%) only rotates between Alternate Director and Advisor. The rotation occurs every three years and the dates are set out in the Constituency Agreement. The Agreement also sets out that the three countries equally contribute to finance the Advisor position, but the Director and Alternate Director positions are fully paid for by the EBRD.

The next rotation occurs on 1 May of 2018. The current Danish Director will be replaced by an Irish Director while the Lithuanian Alternate Director will be replaced by a Dane and the Irish Advisor will be replaced by a Lithuanian. Each will be in place for three years until the next rotation on 1 May 2021.

As provided under the EBRD governance rules, the Irish Director is nominated by the Minister for Finance in his role as Governor for Ireland at the EBRD.