As part of Ireland's third review under the EU/IMF Programme of Financial Support, a report on which was published in September 2011 and is available on the Department of Finance website, there were a number of conditions/actions which Ireland committed to, one of which was to develop a framework to govern the exercise of the State's ownership rights in the banks resulting from the capital injections, including to put in place relationship frameworks with the banks to protect the commercial basis for the banks' operations while under State ownership.
On 30 March 2012, Relationship Frameworks were put in place by my Department with each of the banks in which the State acquired an interest in the context of the financial crisis to govern the relationship between the State, as shareholder, and each bank. They were designed to recognise the separation of each bank from the State, to ensure their businesses would be run on a commercial, cost effective and independent basis to ensure the value of the banks as an asset to the State, and to limit the State's intervention to the extent necessary to protect the public interest.
Under the Relationship Frameworks each bank was to remain a separate economic unit with independent power of decision with its board of directors and management team retaining responsibility for determining the bank's strategies and commercial policies and conducting its day-to-day operations.
A revised Relationship Framework with IBRC was published on March 30, 2012 in line with the introduction of similar agreements for each of the other banks. That followed interaction with the management and Boards of each of the banks concerned.
While I confirm that IBRC was consulted on an ongoing basis over a period of months in relation to the introduction of the revised Relationship Framework, the information requested by the Deputy as part of this Parliamentary Question relating to the specific dialogue which took place between my Department and IBRC is currently the subject of a Freedom of Information request and will be released in due course as part of this Freedom of Information request should the Deciding Officer consider its full release to be appropriate. The Deciding Officer will make the materials released under this Freedom of Information request available to you upon their release.
