Fine Gael Meath West Deputy, Damien English, has said the news that deposits at the Irish covered banks have risen month on month, and now stand at €5.8 billion more than at the beginning of the year is good news and signals confidence in the Irish economy.
“The figures published by the Department of Finance show that deposits at the covered banks for the month of June rose by €0.6bn (or 0.4%) to around €153 billion. This is very positive news, coming as it does at a time of great uncertainty in Europe.
“The bigger picture, when we look at the year to date, shows that there has been cumulative growth in deposits at these banks of €5.8 billion (or 3.9%) and while the rate of growth throughout June has moderated (May recorded growth rates of €0.9 billion), the overall trend is encouraging.
“The work the Government has been engaged in, in restructuring our banking system to make it leaner and better able to deliver, is definitely yielding results. The year-on-year deposits at the covered institutions have increased by as much as €13 billion since the low point of €140 billion was recorded in June 2011.
“The Government faced the unenviable task when it came to office of not only attempting to plug the hole in our finances and getting our people back to work, but of radically reforming our banking system to make it fit for purpose. We have not shirked away from that challenge.
“We set about reconfiguring and recapitalising the covered banks on time and below costs, setting deleveraging targets for the covered institutions to sell non-core assets and closely monitoring lending targets for SMEs to ensure adequate flow of credit into the economy.
“The Government has also taken the debt bull by the horns by addressing the issue of mortgage arrears and personal insolvencies so that people can take a realistic approach to their finances. There is still much work ahead but these figures are a positive reflection of the work being done by the Government. We are still negotiating hard at European level to ensure a better deal for Ireland and for stimulus measures that will enable our people to get off the dole queues and back to work.”
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