5A.—(1) The Bank has the following functions:

(a) to carry out the efficient and effective co-ordination of—

(i) the activities of the Bank,

(ii) activities undertaken by persons who provide services to, or receive services from, the Bank, and

(iii) the exchange of information between the Bank and any of those persons;

F80[(aa) the functions provided for by the Central Bank and Credit Institutions (Resolution) Act 2011;]

F81[(ab) the functions of the resolution authority under the European Union (Bank Recovery and Resolution) Regulations (S.I No. 289 of 2015);]

(b) where appropriate, to represent and co-ordinate the representation of the Bank on international financial bodies and at international meetings relating to financial or economic matters;

(c) to establish and maintain, either directly or indirectly, contact with the monetary authorities established in other countries and in territories;

(d) whenever it thinks fit, to provide governments of, and financial institutions and other bodies established in, other countries and in territories with advice or other assistance on matters within its expertise;

(e) the function of holding an inquiry under Part IIIC;

(f) the function of monitoring the provision of financial services to consumers of those services to the extent that the Bank considers appropriate, for the purposes of protecting the public interest and the interests of consumers;

(g) to provide for the collection and study of data that deal with monetary and credit problems and to publish information about that data;

(h) to provide advice and assistance to the Central Statistics Office about the collection, compilation, analysis and interpretation of statistics relating to the balance of payments, national accounts and other financial statistics and, where appropriate, to collect data for that purpose;

(i) to perform such other functions as are imposed on it by or under this and any other Act or law.

(2) The Bank has power to do whatever is necessary for or in connection with, or reasonably incidental to, the performance of its functions.

(3) In particular, the powers of the Bank include powers of a kind that, in accordance with normal banking practice, may be exercised by a bank.

(4) The functions of the F82[the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission] specified in subsection (5) are, in so far as they relate to a financial service provided by a regulated financial service provider, also functions of the Bank and subsections (6) to (8) have effect for the purposes of this subsection.

F83[(5) The functions of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission referred to in subsection (4) are the following functions, namely, functions under—

(a) subsections (1), (5), (6) and (8) of section 10 of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014 in relation to—

(i) sections 41 to 56 (other than section 50) of the Consumer Protection Act 2007, and

F84[(ii) Parts 4 and 6 of the Consumer Rights Act 2022,]

(b) sections 34, 35 and 36 of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014, and

(c) sections 71, 72, 73, 75, 81, 82, 84, 86, 88 and 90 of the Consumer Protection Act 2007.]

(6) Subsection (4) operates to vest in the Bank, concurrently with the vesting in the F82[the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission] of those functions by the Consumer Protection Act 2007 F85[and the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014], the functions specified in subsection (5).

(7) Accordingly—

(a) the functions so specified are, subject to any relevant co-operation agreement entered into F86[under section 19 of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014], capable of being performed by either the F82[the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission] or the Bank, and

(b) subject to subsection (9), references to the F82[the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission] in the provisions of that Act specified in subsection (5) are to be read as including references to the Bank and those provisions otherwise apply.

(8) Subject to subsection (9), sections 80, 85 and 87 of the Consumer Protection Act 2007 apply to the Bank as they apply to the F82[the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission] and, accordingly, references to the F82[the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission] in those sections are to be read as including references to the Bank.

(9) Where any section of the Consumer Protection Act 2007 F85[or the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014] specified in subsection (5) or (8) provides for anything to be done in relation to the F82[the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission] (whether the giving of notice to it, the submitting of a thing to it or the doing of any other thing) then, if a co-operation agreement entered into F86[under section 19 of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014] so specifies, it is sufficient compliance with the section concerned if the thing is done in relation to the F82[the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission] or the Bank as is specified in that agreement.

(10) The Bank is required to perform its functions and exercise its powers in a manner consistent with the Rome Treaty and the ESCB Statute.

(11) Subject to subsection (10), the Bank shall perform its functions and exercise its powers in a way that is consistent with—

(a) the orderly and proper functioning of financial markets,

(b) the prudential supervision of providers of financial services, and

(c) the public interest and the interest of consumers.

(12) The Bank can perform its functions and exercise its powers both within the State and elsewhere.]