Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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281. To ask the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to the €1,000 cost-of-living payment being made by two banks (details supplied) to their staff; if he will make inquiries as to the reason that staff of other banks are not being included in such a payment scheme; if he will encourage these financial institutions to follow suit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51464/22]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I wish to highlight, as Minister for Finance, I am precluded from intervening in commercial and operational decisions in any particular bank, even one in which the State has a shareholding. Decisions in this regard are the sole responsibility of the board and management of the banks, which must be run on an independent and commercial basis. The bank's independence is protected by a Relationship Framework which is a legally binding document that cannot be changed unilaterally. This framework, which is publicly available, was insisted upon by the European Commission to protect competition in the Irish market.

Under the current bank remuneration policy, variable payments to employees of three banks in the State require the consent of the Minister for Finance. Both AIB and Bank of Ireland availed of the Small Benefit Exemption which was announced in Budget 2023 having first sought my consent on the matter.

The Small Benefit Exemption allows an employer to provide limited non-cash benefits or rewards to their workers without the payment of income tax, PRSI and USC. I increased the annual limit provided for in the exemption from €500 to €1,000.

As already mentioned, these are commercial decisions for the board and management of the banks and any future decision by the other banks in the State to avail of the Small Benefit Exemption will be a matter for those individual banks.