Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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231. To ask the Minister for Finance if two former bank buildings (details supplied) in County Kerry will be repurposed for use by the local community; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5643/22]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy may be aware, as Minister for Finance, I have no role in the commercial decisions made by any bank in the State. This includes banks in which the State has a shareholding.

Decisions in this regard, including the management of branch premises, are the sole responsibility of the board and management of the banks, which must be run on an independent and commercial basis. The independence of banks in which the State has a shareholding is protected by Relationship Frameworks which are legally binding documents that cannot be changed unilaterally. These frameworks, which are publicly available, were insisted upon by the European Commission to protect competition in the Irish market. The Bank of Ireland Relationship Framework can be found on my department's website.

My officials contacted Bank of Ireland and received the following response:

"Bank of Ireland is in the process of placing 70 buildings for sale in the market and it has appointed Sherry Fitzgerald to manage that process throughout 2022. The Bank has had high level engagement with the Department of Rural and Community Development on the issue of former bank buildings. Arising from this engagement the Department contacted Local Authorities to ensure they had all the information necessary about the Bank’s portfolio of buildings for sale in order to help prepare any bids the Authorities may be considering or supporting."