Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
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224. To ask the Minister for Finance the State agencies, organisations or boards under the responsibility of his Department, or that receive funding from his Department, that have been charged interest for savings on deposit in Irish banks since negative interest rates were introduced; the amount of interest that has been charged to each State agency, organisation or board; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33313/21]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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A number of the bodies under the aegis of my Department have incurred negative interest rate charges in Irish banks, details of which are set out below.

Home Building Finance Ireland (HBFI) was established in December 2018, at which time there was a requirement to open a number of accounts to allow day to day operations and activities to be undertaken. Since December 2018, HBFI has been charged a total of €39,345 in negative interest for savings on deposit in Irish banks.

The Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman (FSPO) has been charged €35,700 in negative interest since its establishment on 1 January 2018. Since 2019, the FSPO has issued levy notices at various points throughout the year, in order to reduce moneys held on deposit at any one time and therefore reduce negative interest charged. In addition, superannuation contributions relating to the FSPO’s Model Pension Schemes are held on deposit, adding to the negative interest charged. The FSPO has taken all possible actions to reduce/avoid negative interest and is monitoring rates charged on an ongoing basis.

The National Asset Management Agency has incurred negative interest rate costs of €127,035 to date.

The National Treasury Management Agency has incurred negative interest charges of €243,452 on its accounts with core Irish retail banks since 2018.

Since 2014, the Office of the Revenue Commissioners’ overnight balances held on deposit generated negative interest charges of €4.39 million. The amounts held on deposit increased during 2020 and 2021 (to date) to fund certain COVID-19 related subsidy schemes managed by Revenue.