Central Bank Act, 1989.

Grant of licences, etc.

32.—(1) Section 9 of the Act of 1971 is hereby amended:

(a) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (1):

“(1A) The Bank shall not grant a licence under this section to a person applying for it unless that person satisfies the Bank that it is—

(a) a company, or

(b) a credit institution within the meaning of Council Directive 77/780/EEC of 12 December, 1977(1), which has been duly authorised for the purposes of that Directive.”;

(b) by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (3):

“(3) Whenever the Bank proposes to refuse to grant a licence to a person—

(a) it shall—

(i) within the period of six months after the date of the receipt of the application for the licence, or

(ii) where additional information in relation to the application has been sought by the Bank, within the period of six months after the date of the receipt by the Bank of the additional information or the period of twelve months after the date of the receipt of the application for the licence whichever period first expires,

notify the person in writing that it intends to seek the consent of the Minister to the proposed refusal and of its reasons for the refusal and that the person may, within the period of twenty-one days after the date of the giving of the notification, make representations in writing to the Minister in relation to the proposed refusal,

(b) the person may make such representations in writing to the Minister within the time aforesaid, and

(c) the Minister shall, before deciding to give or withhold his consent, consider any representations duly made to him under this subsection in relation to the proposed refusal.”.

(2) Section 10 (4) of the Act of 1971 shall stand repealed with effect from the coming into operation of subsection (1) (a).