Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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571. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the status of the public banking investigation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3340/18]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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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. The Programme for Government also includes a commitment to investigate the German Sparkassen model for the development of local public banks.

A project team comprising officials from my Department and the Department of Finance was established last year to progress this commitment.  The project team carried out detailed research into the concept of a public banking model, with a particular focus on the Sparkassen model. In addition, a public consultation process, seeking views on the concept of a community banking model, ran for four weeks. A total of 16 replies from a range of stakeholders were received.

The Departmental officials have now finalised their report and have submitted their findings to the Minister for Finance and myself. The report will be brought to Government shortly for consideration.