Parties reply to IBOA election questions

The Labour Party has told the Irish Bank Officials' Association that it would use €500 million from the sale of State shares in domestic banks to part-finance a Green Infrastructure Fund.

This would be combined with a similar level of private sector funds to increase investment in “clean public transport and energy-efficiency projects through the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund”, Labour said.

This answer formed part of its reply to a series of pre-election questions posed by the finance union to nine political parties and groupings.

In relation to the banking inquiry report's recommendations, Labour said it would make "increased provision for risk assessment oversight" by the Central Bank and would establish a new commercial property price register.

Fine Gael said it was a matter for the next Government to act on the recommendations. Sinn Féin, whose finance spokesman Pearse Doherty refused to sign the final report, described the recommendations as "extremely weak".

In its reply on the report, Fianna Fáil said: "All political parties must accept responsibility for calling for unsustainable increases in annual spending and cuts in taxes, at a time when the State was overly-reliant on 'once-off' tax income from the property sector."

Sinn Féin said State-owned banks “must engage and agree” any plans to outsource staff with their unions, and indicated its support for employee representatives being included on bank boards.

Fianna Fáil said it would prepare a white paper on the future of banking in Ireland, and would fully license the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland to create an entity similar to the former ICC.