Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)
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Question 40: To ask the Minister for Finance if he has raised the possibility of imposing losses on the unsecured unguaranteed Irish Nationwide Building Society Bonds of €631m due on 26 June 2012; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19269/12]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is aware the Government is committed to delivering a return to a successful vibrant economy. In this context I have indicated on a number of occasions that there is no private sector involvement for senior bank paper or Irish Sovereign debt without the agreement of our external partners. This commitment has been agreed with out external partners and is now the basis on which Ireland's future financing strategy is built. This strategy is working well as evidenced by the reduction in pricing of Irish Sovereign debt in the secondary markets and the successful bond exchange offer by the NTMA.

As indicated the Government is committed to reviewing the approach to the Promissory notes with a view to reducing the overall cost to the State. The Troika have agreed to engage in a process with Irish Officials to produce a common paper which will consider all options for restructuring the notes in terms of the source of funding, the duration of the notes, the interest rate etc.

While the development in relation to the end March Promissory Note payment is positive, we must continue to work towards the greater benefits which would derive from the re-engineering of the promissory note. There are potential improvements for the banking sector which could also stem from the ongoing technical discussions.

It is for these reasons that we must look at the recent developments as an initial step in a process. This is a medium term project. The Government is focused on developing an alternative solution to the promissory note arrangement in IBRC. We want to arrive at a successful conclusion that is in the interests of Ireland and the EU.