Bank directors to face Dáil body

The public interest directors in the banks are to be called before the Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform next week.

It will be the first time the directors, who have been appointed in the wake of the bank guarantee scheme and the bail out of the banks, have been called before an Oireachtas committee.

The membership of the committee includes some harsh critics of the bank bailout and the performance of the banks in the period since.

They include socialist deputy Richard Boyd-Barrett, Pearse Doherty of Sinn Féin, Independent deputy Stephen Donnelly, Joe Higgins of the Socialist Party, and Peter Mathews of Fine Gael .

PTSB directors Margaret Hayes and Ray Mac Sharry are to appear before the committee on Wednesday, while Bank of Ireland directors Tom Considine and Joe Walsh, and AIB directors Dick Spring and Michael Somers, will come before the committee on Thursday.

Among the issues the directors will be asked is what distinguishes them from their colleagues on their boards, and what scrutiny they apply to the banks’ policies on lending to small and medium-sized enterprises.

Ciarán Lynch, chairman of the committee, said the hearings will allow the committee to get an overview of the roles, responsibilities, duties and contribution of the public interest directors on the boards of banks which have been bailed out.

“Among the other issues we will want to address with the public interest directors are how have they reported on their role and to whom do they report, and what is their contribution to the banks’ policies, in particular the function they have in setting the rates of pay and the remuneration policy at their particular bank for management and senior executives.”

Last month Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said 12 public interest directors appointed by government to State-supported banks since 2008 had shared almost €2 million in fees.