Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 November 2013
163. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance the number of accounts and the types of accounts not covered by the deposit guarantee scheme; and the steps that have been taken to notify these account holders of their exclusion. [50263/13]
View answerThe Deposit Guarantee Scheme (DGS) protects depositors up to €100,000 per depositor per credit institution in the event of a bank, building society or credit union authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland being unable to repay deposits. However, certain types of deposits are excluded from coverage, such as deposits from large companies and inter-bank deposits. The Central Bank’s website has complete information on the Deposit Guarantee Scheme, including information on the types of accounts which are and are not covered by the scheme. This is available at http://www.centralbank.ie/paycurr/paysys/dgs/pages/about.aspx.
All deposit-taking credit institutions in Ireland are required by law to participate in the Deposit Guarantee Scheme. Each credit institution covered by the DGS is required to maintain a balance in the Deposit Protection Account (DPA) equivalent to 0.2% of their total deposits in order to fund the DGS. The Central Bank of Ireland is responsible for the operation of the DGS and is currently working with credit institutions to receive data on exact coverage levels under the Deposit Guarantee Scheme.
The Deputy should note that the DGS does not pay compensation on an account by account basis. Instead, all of a depositor’s eligible deposits with a particular credit institution are aggregated and the DGS covers the first €100,000 of this aggregated amount, per depositor, per credit institution. It is therefore possible that the DGS may cover all or part of a particular account depending on the aggregate amount of the individual’s eligible deposits with the credit institution concerned.
There is currently no requirement for institutions to advise depositors of their coverage under the DGS. However, further changes to the DGS Directive which are currently being negotiated at EU trilogue level include improvements to the information available to account holders.
