Credit Institutions (Financial Support) (Revocation) Scheme 2025: Motion Seanad Éireann — 2025-12-10 ============================================================ Charlie McConalogue (FF), Donegal I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach and the three spokespeople for their contributions to the discussion. I will summarise the key points that have emerged and place them in a clear and factual context. It is clear that Ireland's banking landscape has undergone profound change in recent years. The regulatory framework of the banking sector has changed significantly over the past decade, driven both by domestic and European legislation. This has included a material strengthening of banking regulation, which can be attributed to recognition of the regulatory failings that contributed to the financial crisis and corresponding loss of trust in the regulatory system. Many reports have been completed post crisis, including the Department of Finance's banking review which addressed the impacts of the financial crisis. The review, which was conducted by officials from the Department with assistance from other Government agencies and Departments, made a wide range of recommendations to improve the experience of both the sector and the customer, recognising the critical importance of a stable and viable retail banking sector for the Irish economy. From a financial stability perspective, the capital funding and liquidity positions of the traditional banks have strengthened considerably. As mentioned, financial regulation has transformed significantly in more recent years as a result of changes introduced through domestic reform and at EU level. The motions I bring before this House today to revoke these two schemes will further strengthen our regulatory framework. The schemes have served their purpose. The obligations under these schemes have become redundant as there are no longer any guaranteed liabilities under the schemes. Furthermore, there is duplication of requirements under existing EU legislation. I have brought these motions before the House on behalf of the Minister for Finance to request resolutions to approve the following regulations in draft: the Credit Institutions (Financial Support) (Revocation) Scheme 2025 and the Credit Institutions (Eligible Liabilities Guarantee) (Revocation) Scheme 2025. In my opening speech, I set out the context and backgrounds of these two schemes. The Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Act 2008, which was enacted on 2 October 2008, provided the Minister of Finance with the powers to provide the bank guarantee. On 9 September 2009, the eligible liabilities guarantee scheme was introduced, having been approved by the Oireachtas. The draft statutory instruments to revoke both schemes will remove the obligations placed on the relevant banks - Bank of Ireland, AIB and the PTSB group - under the schedules of the schemes. As I have mentioned already, these obligations have become redundant due to there no longer being any guaranteed liabilities under the schemes and duplication requirements under EU legislation. I set out how the European regulatory and supervisory structure for banks has fundamentally changed since 2008. The comprehensive reporting requirements in the capital requirements regulations will remain once the credit institutions financial support scheme and the eligible liabilities guarantee scheme have been revoked. Their revocation eliminates the duplication of reporting requirements and removes unnecessary burden. It should be noted that in 2022, the deeds of partial release were entered into by the then Minister and each of Bank of Ireland, AIB and the PTSB group to release the banks from contractual obligations in the CIFS guarantee acceptance deeds in 2008 and the ELG scheme agreements in 2009. The scheme has already significantly divested from its bank shareholdings. Furthermore, and in line with the programme for Government commitment to complete the task of normalising the domestic banking system, a further normalisation of the relationship between the State and the domestic banking system was announced in June of this year. This included the removal of certain crisis-era measures including certain restrictions pertaining to remuneration. These draft schemes will revoke SI 411 of 2008, the Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Scheme 2008, and SI 490 of 2009, the Eligible Liabilities Guarantee Scheme 2009. Section 6(5) of the Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Act 2008 provides that regulations may be made only if a draft of the proposed regulations is laid before each House of the Oireachtas and a resolution approving the draft has been passed by each House. In addition, certain obligations have become redundant. The Minister and the Central Bank of Ireland imposed a number of obligations on the banks requiring them to, among other things, certify compliance with relevant matters; report and provide information to the Minister and to the Central Bank of Ireland; comply with certain restrictions relating to capital, share transactions and financial targets; and comply with any powers exercised by the Minister over the governance of the banks. These are known as the reporting and compliance obligations. The information that each bank has to provide under the reporting obligations in particular is voluminous and the obligations to do so arise frequently. This requires the banks to devote significant resources to meeting these and other compliance obligations. The reporting and compliance obligations are also separate to those which the bank owes to the European Central Bank and the Central Bank of Ireland as its regulators, which are onerous in their own right. Some of the requirements on the banks will remain in place subsequent to the revocation of these two schemes. I commend both motions and revocations to the House. I thank all Senators for their contributions. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2025-12-10/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:26+00:00 Sitting date: 2025-12-10