Vol. 490 No. 2
51 Mr. Finucane asked the Minister for Finance if he has received the report of the latest Central Bank inquiry into National Irish Bank; if he has satisfied himself with the outcome; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9597/98]
I have previously advised the House that, following the disclosure of allegations concerning the National Irish Bank and Clerical Medical Insurance, I wrote to the Governor of the Central Bank of 26 January 1998 drawing his attention to the possibility that developments at NIB could have exchange control implications. In that letter I also requested the Governor to make a separate report to me on the implications, if any, of the NIB developments for all aspects of banking supervision.
The governor replied to me on the supervisory side on 19 March 1998. He confirmed that the bank's inspection of NIB, which was conducted in its capacity of supervisor, had concluded, but that he was precluded by law from revealing the findings. Deputies will be aware that I have already read the text of the governor's letter into the record of the House.
In his letter, the governor reiterated the comments made in his letter of 11 November 1997 concerning the supervisory issues arising from the McCracken tribunal, whereby he advised that the board was satisfied with its legal powers which are generally adequate to enable the bank to discharge satisfactorily its statutory functions. The board keeps supervisory procedures under review and tries to ensure that these are in line with best international practice. Nothing in the bank's inquiries into the NIB/CMI issue had lead the governor to change any of the conclusions he reported last November.
