Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)

——there is a possibility that it will grow again. We will get to the national debt. We will have other days to talk about it. Of course there are servicing cost implications if one puts capital into banks. However, the Deputy will recall that of the €24 billion, between €5 billion and €6 billion is available through discounting subordinated debt. He will also recall that €3 billion of the €24 billion is going in by way of contingency and that my predecessor failed to meet a deadline during the election campaign to provide capital to the banks but, as a compromise and at the request of the Central Bank, he put €7 billion of the €10 billion on deposit in the banking system. That €7 billion has gone in already and it merely has to be moved from one side of the accounts to the other, from deposit to recapitalisation.

The contingency money amounting to €35 billion was put into the bailout fund and divided evenly at €17.5 billion and €17.5 billion. One of these tranches is coming from the National Pensions Reserve Fund and one of the aspects of the pension fund paying money to recapitalise the banks, as intended under the bailout, is there is no interest charge on it. When one examines the detail, I do not say we are getting a free run. There is no such thing as a free lunch——

See this speech in context