Council Implementing Decision of 22 June 2012 amending Implementing Decision 2011/77/EU on granting Union financial assistance to Ireland (2012/375/EU)

Article 1

Article 3 of Implementing Decision 2011/77/EU is amended as follows:

(1)

in paragraph 7, point (d) is replaced by the following:

‘(d)

the adoption of legislation to increase the state pension age to 66 years in 2014, 67 in 2021, and 68 in 2028, with a view to enhancing the long-term sustainability of the public finances.’;

(2)

in paragraph 8, the following points are added:

‘(f)

the completion of the following work-streams in the domestically-owned Irish banks, on whose results the Irish authorities will report to the Commission, the ECB and the IMF: (i) an independent asset quality review to assess the quality of aggregate and individual loan portfolios and the processes employed for establishing and monitoring asset quality; (ii) a distressed credit operations review to assess the operational capability and effectiveness of distressed loan portfolio management in the banks including arrears management and workout practices in curing non-performing loans (NPLs) and reducing loan losses; (iii) a data integrity validation exercise to assess the reliability of banks’ data; and (iv) an income recognition and re-ageing project to review existing practices against international financial reporting standards (IFRS) and relevant regulatory guidance;

(g)

the assessment of banks’ progress with the work-out of their non-performing portfolios;

(h)

the provision to the Commission, the ECB and the IMF of an evaluation of the actions taken in respect of jobseekers payments recipients who do not attend employment activation interviews;

(i)

the completion of a cross-departmental report to explore the scope for attenuating any adverse employment incentives arising from the structure of social payments;

(j)

the adoption of legislation reforming pension entitlements for new entrants to the public service. This shall include a review of accelerated retirement for certain categories of public servants and an indexation of pensions to consumer prices. Pensions shall be based on career average earnings. New entrants’ retirement age shall be linked to the state pension retirement age.’;

(3)

the following paragraph is added:

‘10. Ireland shall, in 2013 and in line with specifications in the Memorandum of Understanding, complete stress tests of the banks that were included in the PCAR 2011. The stress test will be aligned to the European Banking Authority (EBA) exercise, and build on the outcomes from PCAR 2011 and the Financial Measures Programme 2012. The stress test will be rigorous and continue to be based on robust loan-loss forecasts and a high level of transparency. The publication of the results will coincide with the next EBA exercise.’.