QUESTION NO: 218
DÁIL QUESTION addressed to the Minister for Finance (Deputy Michael Noonan)
by Deputy Martin Heydon
for WRITTEN ANSWER on 08/07/2014
To ask the Minister for Finance the action he will take to ensure that predominantly State owned Irish Banks pass on recent interest rate reductions to their customers who are on variable rate mortgages; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
REPLY.
As the Deputy will be aware the Relationship Frameworks with the banks provide that the State will not intervene in the day-to-day operations of the institutions or their management decisions. These documents are published on the Department of Finance website. I must ensure that the banks are run on a commercial, cost effective and independent basis to ensure the value of the banks as assets to the State.
Neither the Central Bank nor the Department of Finance has a statutory function in relation to interest rate decisions made by individual lending institutions at any particular time. It should also be noted that the Relationship Frameworks specifically reference decisions regarding pricing as being commercial decisions for the banks.