I beg to move the amendment which stands in the name of Deputy Flinn. It is to insert in subsection (1) of Section 2, in line 22, after the words "Bank of Ireland," the words "or other approved bank having its headquarters in Saorstat Eireann."
I think a better justification for that amendment could not be found than is expressed on page 39 of the Fourth Interim Report of the Banking Commission, where the members of that Commission who signed the majority report stated a point of view which was expressed by some members of the Commission. Dealing with the question of the holding of public funds certain members of the Banking Commission stated that there was, in their opinion, no reason why some distribution of Government funds at least could not be made as between the different banks. This fact, they go on to say, is attested by the Government attitude or action in dividing the public deposits between the Bank of Ireland, on the one hand, and the National Land Bank on the other hand, when these were independent concerns. They state that the other commercial banks are justly desirous of having a share in the Government accounts, not alone because the custody of such funds may be a source of possible profit, but because it does confer a certain prestige on the bank, and the other commercial banks in this country who are doing a good deal, possibly more even than the Bank of Ireland, to build up industry and agriculture in this country feel that it is unfair to them that a monopoly in this matter should be reserved to the one institution.
