The information the Deputy seeks — names and details of Directors (including public interest directors) at the covered institutions, remit, performance and terms and conditions — is available in the recently published Annual Accounts for 2011 of the 3 respective covered institutions — namely Allied Irish Banks, Bank of Ireland and Irish Life and Permanent.
The legislative power to appoint such directors arises from the Credit Institutions (Financial Support) [CIFS] Scheme 2008. Originally there were twelve (12) such appointments — two (2) at each of the then six (6) institutions. While the individuals were nominated by the then Minister for Finance the appointments are made and remunerated by the respective boards of the institutions. With the changed status of some of the institutions over time six directors, at the institutions cited above, remain in situ.
As regards the responsibilities of directors, I am advised that the legal position is that any director appointed to the board of the covered institutions, whether under the CIFS Scheme or otherwise, is subject to the requirements of company law in relation to the discharge of their responsibilities as a company director. As such, the director is legally bound to act in what he or she believes are the interests of the separate legal entity that is the institution itself. These are the director's so called fiduciary responsibilities.
In light of the foregoing and the scope for actual and perceived conflicts between the fiduciary duties of the directors of financial institutions under company law and the wider public interest in circumstances that those institutions have received huge financial support from the State, legal clarity, not just to the role of the public interest director but to that of the entire boards of those institutions, was brought under the provisions of Section 48 of the Credit Institutions (Stabilisation) Act 2010. It provides that the overriding duty of all directors, at the covered institutions, relates to the public interest as set out in the Act.
The recently agreed and published Relationship Frameworks between the Minister for Finance and the covered institutions specify that the board of the institution must ensure strict compliance with its regulatory and legal obligations arising under the Act.
