Skip to main content
Normal View

Central Bank of Ireland

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 30 April 2014

Wednesday, 30 April 2014

Questions (54)

Thomas P. Broughan

Question:

54. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Finance if he will report on a recent briefing given to the Central Bank of Ireland officials by an economist (details supplied); and the actions that may be taken by the Central Bank of Ireland on foot of this briefing. [18687/14]

View answer

Written answers

I have been informed by the Central Bank that a meeting has taken place between Professor Morgan Kelly and representatives of the Central Bank, but I am not privy to the details of any such meetings conducted by the Central Bank.

As the Deputy is aware, the remarks by the UCD academic Morgan Kelly relate to the forthcoming stress testing by the ECB and in this context the Governor of the Central Bank indicated recently that the purpose of the forthcoming ECB stress tests on 128 European banks, which includes Irish banks, was to remove market and government doubts about the ability of banks to absorb losses with their own shareholders funds. It is important to highlight that the ECB Comprehensive Assessment will not get into loan restructuring. The objective of the review is focused solely on determining whether the banks have enough provisions against their loans and capital. Irish banks have just undergone such an exercise, their second in less than three years, which led to a substantial increase in their loan loss provisions at year end. As I have stated previously, I do not anticipate any capital issues for the Irish banks arising from the Comprehensive Assessment.

Top
Share