Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 July 2013
228. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance if he will put before Dáil Éireann any job description, advice, guidance given to Mr. Alan Dukes on his appointment as a public interest director in Anglo Irish Bank in December 2009. [34329/13]
View answerThe legal position is that any director appointed to the board of the covered institutions whether under the Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Scheme 2008 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 directors so-called fiduciary responsibilities. To address 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 where those institutions have received 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 provided under Section 48 of the Credit Institutions (Stabilisation) Act 2010. It provides that the overriding duty of directors of the covered institutions relates to the public interest as set out in Section 4 of the CISA Act.
Section 4 of the Credit Institutions (Stabilisation) Act 2010 states: 4. The purposes of this Act are—(a) to address the serious and continuing disruption to the economy and the financial system and the continuing serious threat to the stability of certain credit institutions in the State and the financial system generally,-(b) to implement the reorganisation of credit institutions in the State to achieve the financial stabilisation of those credit institutions and their restructuring (consistently with the state aid rules of the European Union) in the context of the National Recovery Plan 2011 - 2014 and the European Union/International Monetary Fund Programme of Financial Support for Ireland,-(c) to continue the process of reorganisation, preservation and restoration of the financial position of Anglo Irish Bank Corporation Limited begun with the Anglo Irish Bank Corporation Act 2009,-(d) to continue the process of preservation and restoration of the financial position of building societies through the issue of special investment shares under section 18 (1A) of the Building Societies Act 1989,-(e) to protect the interests of depositors in credit institutions,-(f) to address the compelling need—(i) to facilitate the availability of credit in the economy of the State, (ii) to protect the State’s interest in respect of the guarantees given by the State under the Act of 2008 and to support the steps taken by the Government in that regard,(iii) to protect the interests of taxpayers,(iv) to restore confidence in the banking sector and to underpin Government support measures in relation to that sector, and (v) to align the activities of the relevant institutions and the duties and responsibilities of their officers and employees with the public interest and the other purposes of this Act,- (g) to preserve and restore the financial position of a relevant institution, and- (h) to empower the Court to impose reorganisation measures through orders made in reliance on the CIWUD Directive.
I am satisfied that with twenty years’ experience in politics, four Ministerial portfolios and three and a half years as Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Dukes had reasonable experience to assess what was in the public interest.
