PART III

Miscellaneous

15. —The Act of 1971 is hereby amended by the substitution of the following section for section 44 (as substituted by section 120 of the Act of 1989):

“44.—It shall be lawful for the Bank, with the authority of the European Central Bank, to issue legal tender notes.”.

16. —The Central Bank Act, 1989 , is hereby amended by the substitution of the following section for section 118 :

“118.—(1) It shall be lawful for the Bank to provide and issue in accordance with this Part notes to be known and in this Part referred to as legal tender notes for the following denominations, namely, £1, £5, £10, £20, £50, £100 and any other denomination in the Irish pound or in the euro unit for which the European Central Bank has authorised the issue in accordance with Article 105a of the Treaty and such notes and other notes denominated in the euro unit for which the European Central Bank has authorised the issue in accordance with Article 105a of the said Treaty shall be current in the State and shall be legal tender in the State for the payment of any amount.

(2) Every legal tender note shall be of such form, size and design and printed in such a manner and on such paper and numbered and authenticated in such manner as stood prescribed before the commencement of this section or as may be prescribed thereafter from time to time for the purpose of this section.

(3) Any legal tender note of any denomination provided and issued at any time under the Currency Act, 1927 , or any subsequent Act shall continue to be current in the State and shall continue to be legal tender in the State for the payment of any amount.

(4) In this section—

‘euro unit’ has the meaning assigned to it by Council Regulation No. 1103/97 of 17 June, 1997, on certain provisions relating to the introduction of the euro;

‘paper’ includes any material capable of being printed upon;

‘prescribed’ means in the case of notes prescribed before the commencement of this section prescribed by the Bank with the sanction of the Minister and in all other cases prescribed by the Bank with the sanction of the European Central Bank.”.

17. —The Act of 1997 is hereby amended by the substitution of the following section for section 24 :

“24.—(1) Subject to the requirements of the Treaty and of the Statute, the Governor of the Bank shall, if so requested, attend before a Joint Committee of the Oireachtas that is assigned the role of examining matters related to the Bank and shall furnish that Committee with such information as may be requested, subject to any restrictions in this regard as are placed on the Governor by virtue of the Central Bank Acts, 1942 to 1997, and any other enactment.

(2) In this Act—

‘the Treaty’ means the Treaty establishing the European Community done at Rome on the 25th day of March, 1957 (as amended by the Treaty on European Union done at Maastricht on the 7th day of February, 1992);

‘the Statute’ means the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank as set out in Protocol (No. 3) (annexed by the Treaty on European Union done at Maastricht on the 7th day of February, 1992) to the Treaty establishing the European Community done at Rome on the 25th day of March, 1957.”.

18. —The Act of 1997 is hereby amended by the substitution of the following section for section 26:

“26.— Section 19 of the Act of 1942 is hereby amended—

(a) in subsection (4):

(i) by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (b)—

‘(b) he shall, during his term of office, be ineligible for election as a director of any credit institution, financial institution, or insurance undertaking;’,

and

(ii) by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (c):

‘(c) if, at the time of appointment he is the director of any credit institution, financial institution or insurance undertaking, he shall divest himself of such directorship within ten days after his appointment and if he fails so to do he shall at the expiration of such ten days be disqualified from holding the office of Governor;’,

and

(b) by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (5):

‘(5) In this section and section 20—

‘credit institution’ means an undertaking whose business it is to receive deposits or other repayable funds from the public and to grant credit on its own account but does not include the European Monetary Institute or the European Central Bank;

‘financial institution’ means an undertaking other than a credit institution providing any one or more of the financial services set out in the Schedule to the European Communities (Licensing and Supervision of Credit Institutions) Regulations, 1992 (S.I. No. 395 of 1992);

‘insurance undertaking’ has the meaning assigned to it by the Insurance Act, 1989 .’”.

19. — Section 134 of the Act of 1989 is hereby amended by the substitution for subsections (1) and (2) of the following subsections:

“(1) Whenever the Minister considers it necessary in the national interest, he may, after consulting the Bank, give a direction that in respect of a specified day or days a person to whom the direction relates shall not effect in the course of business any transaction, or any transaction of such a kind, as may be specified in the direction.

(2) The Minister may after consulting the Bank grant an exemption from all or part of a direction under this section to any person to whom it relates where he is satisfied that such an exemption would not adversely affect the national interest.”.

20. — Section 15 of the Act of 1989 is hereby amended by the insertion in subsection (5), after paragraph (b), of the following paragraph:

“(bb) A scheme established under paragraph (a) or (b) may include provision for the establishment by the Bank of a fund, administered by trustees appointed by the Bank, from which superannuation benefits payable under that scheme shall be paid and, on the establishment of that fund, the Bank shall transfer to that fund, within 5 days of its establishment, such sum as has accrued to the Superannuation Reserve of the Bank, being a Reserve, established under the Central Bank of Ireland (Surplus Income) Regulations, 1943 (S.I. No. 93 of 1943), and Article 5(b) of those Regulations shall stand revoked on the day that the transfer takes place and for the avoidance of doubt the Bank may thereafter transfer to that fund such monies as are provided for in the scheme to be so transferred.”.