asked the Minister for Finance whether Irish banks and other financial institutions are allowed to establish themselves in the other member states of the EEC.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Irish Financial Institutions.
123.
Irish banks and other financial institutions would be allowed to establish themselves in the other member states of the EEC subject to their obtaining any necessary consents, permissions or licences from the appropriate national authorities.
Is it not true—not only for Irish financial institutions wishing to establish in EEC countries—that some of these countries have restrictions, as, indeed, this country has, for people wishing to come the other way?
I am not aware of the restrictions the Deputy has in mind. We did operate a more restrictive policy than the one which we are now operating as a consequence of our membership of the EEC.
Nevertheless, is it not so that under the Central Bank Act the Central Bank are the licensing authority and that there are a number of criteria which can be, and are, applied to any applicant irrespective of where he comes from?
Yes, most certainly. I do not think anybody is visualising that the Central Bank of any country should be left impotent in this field. It is very important that the right supervision would continue to operate in the public interest as much against a native company as against a foreign one, and vice versa.