Mr. John Corrigan:

The NTMA is consistent in not giving any expected rate in public. The NTMA is a commercial enterprise. One does not tell the guy to whom one hopes to sell the stuff its original purchasing price. Our bonds represent about 1% of the bond indices.

Someone who operates a fund which holds global bonds in direct proportion to their weighting in the indices would only have to hold 1% in Irish bonds. It is no big deal to a bondholder whether he or she holds Irish bonds. The world does not owe us a living and does not have to hold our bonds. Therefore, we must sell them. Our credit rating is poor. We are rated BBB+ which is a couple of notches above the sub-investment grade, otherwise known as junk grade. Our task has been to sell our story to investors, rather than simply to sit in Treasury Building.