Select Committee on Finance and General Affairs díospóireacht -
Thursday, 6 Feb 1997

SECTION 20.

Mrs. Doyle

I move amendment No. 6:

In page 16, to delete lines 7 and 8 and substitute the following:

"(1) become a member of, or a party to the establishment or operation of a payment system;".

This is a technical amendment to standardise the wording between sections 6 and 20. Over the years the bank's statutory powers and functions have been set out in various enactments. Section 20 sets these out for the first time in a single provision in a Central Bank Bill. Section 20(1) provides for the bank's participation in payment systems in accordance with section 6. However, the wording of section 20(1) requires amendment to conform with that of section 6.

Amendment agreed to.

Question proposed: "That section 20, as amended, stand part of the Bill".

Mr. McCreevy

On section 20 which the Minister of State has more or less clarified in speaking on the amendment, the original Central Bank Act dates from 1942 and there was another as recently as 1989. I made the general point on Second Stage that, in so far as this section lists all the powers of the Central Bank, I was not sure which powers were additional to the Acts of 1942 or 1989. If there were additional powers, why was it deemed unnecessary to give the additional powers?

Mrs. Doyle

It relates to new powers in regulating payment systems.

Mr. McCreevy

Are there many new powers?

Mrs. Doyle

There are four and set out in paragraphs (k), (l), (m) and (n) in section 20.

Mr. McCreevy

If paragraphs (k), (l), (m) and (n) are the new powers, the others must have been covered in the 1942 or 1989 Acts.

Mrs. Doyle

That is right. This new subsection updates the existing powers to take account of the developments in the chapter, in particular the provisions at paragraphs (k), (l), (m) and (n).

Question put and agreed to.

Section 21 agreed to.