Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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1728. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if his attention has been drawn to recent publicity regarding an organisation's (details supplied) work here regarding the establishment of a public banking network; if the organisation invited officials from the Department for Finance and his Department to participate in a field trip to Germany to examine the public banking network there; the technical assistance the organisation offered the Government in respect of the establishment of a public banking network here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37768/17]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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1736. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if his attention has been drawn to recent publicity regarding an organisation's (details supplied) work here regarding the establishment of a public banking network; if the organisation invited officials from the Department of Finance and his Department to participate in a field trip to Germany to examine the public banking network there; the technical assistance the organisation offered the Government in respect of the establishment of a public banking network here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38100/17]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1728 and 1736 together.

The Programme for a Partnership Government includes a commitment to investigate a German model for the development of local public banks that operate within well-defined regions.

As a part of this investigation, my officials, along with officials from the Department of Finance, met with the organisation referred to by the Deputy on 2 March 2017. Representatives from the organisation gave a presentation outlining the German public banking model and offered their expertise and assistance if the Government wished to proceed with establishing a similar model in Ireland. An invitation has been extended to the Irish authorities to travel to Germany to obtain further information. 

The engagement with the organisation in question was just one element of the process of investigating the model of local public banking. A public consultation process on the matter was launched in early March and ran for four weeks, to 29 March. My officials received a total of 16 replies from a range of stakeholders and all submissions were considered.

My officials, together with officials from the Department of Finance, are currently finalising a report on the merits of establishing a local public banking model in Ireland. Their work is now near completion and a report will be submitted to me and to the Minister for Finance shortly for consideration.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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1729. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development when the public banking investigation will be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37769/17]

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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1733. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development when the public banking investigation will be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37976/17]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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1737. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development when the public banking investigation will be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38101/17]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1729, 1733 and 1737 together.

The Programme for a Partnership Government envisaged that An Post, the Irish League of Credit Unions and other interested stakeholders would be asked to investigate and propose a new model of community banking, such as the Kiwibank model in New Zealand, which could be delivered through the post office network. The Programme for Government also includes a commitment to investigate the German Sparkassen model for the development of local public banks that operate within well-defined regions.

My officials have been working actively with the Department of Finance over the last number of months to progress these commitments.  In addition, a public consultation process, seeking views on the community banking model, was launched in early March and ran for four weeks. A total of 16 replies were received from a range of stakeholders and all submissions have been reviewed and considered.  My officials, along with officials from the Department of Finance, also met with the Sparkassen Foundation for International Co-operation in relation to the German Sparkassen model in particular and obtained detailed information from that organisation.

The Departmental officials are currently finalising a report on the merits of establishing a local public banking model in Ireland. This work is nearing completion and a report will be submitted to me and to the Minister for Finance shortly.  I envisage that the report will by submitted to Government for consideration prior to any decision regarding publication.