asked the Minister for Finance if he will state the grounds upon which he decided to reduce the rate of interest on deposits in the Post Office Savings Bank from 2½ per cent. to 2 per cent. on sums up to £300 and from 2½ per cent. to 1¼ per cent. on sums above £300; in particular, if he will state what relation the 1¼ per cent. interest on sums above £300 is intended to have with the price at which he expects moneys to be borrowed by the Government and by public bodies; and whether he has taken into consideration the fact that in Northern Ireland and in Great Britain it has been decided that 2½ per cent. will continue to be paid on Post Office Savings Banks deposits.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Interest on Post Office Deposits.
In my Budget Statement last year I dealt very fully with the new terms and conditions of State loans; I dealt also with the rates of interest on State borrowings, including the rates on day-to-day borrowings from depositors in the savings banks. A draft of an Order fixing the new interest rates for savings banks deposits was duly laid before the Dáil and as no resolution of disapproval was tabled by any Deputy the Order was brought into force on the 1st January. All relevant considerations were taken into account before I announced the new terms for State loans and borrowings last May.
In view of the general circumstances of the present situation is the Minister not prepared to say the reasons that actuated him in making this reduction of the interest on Post Office deposits?
I gave the reasons last year and they appeared to satisfy the Deputy and all members of the House because in October I laid the necessary Order before the Dáil and nobody moved to reject it.
Does the Minister not recollect that he gave no reasons, that he simply stated the facts?
I gave reasons sufficient to satisfy the Deputy and all Deputies in the House.