Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Moran and his team are welcome to the Committee of Public Accounts. I want to begin by echoing Mr. Moran's words of thanks to what he aptly described as the many unsung heroes in his Department. We all got some insight during the passage of legislation here recently, and during various efforts at a European level, of the amount of work being undertaken at a political level but also at an official level in his Department. Those to the fore in political life tend to get credit for that, and it is important to acknowledge the role played by a number of Mr. Moran's staff. The Taoiseach did that in the Dáil in recent weeks and I want to echo it today.

Happy anniversary to Mr. Moran on his first year in the job. He had a very busy year, and that is evident from his opening statement.

I want to hone in on some issues that have arisen from the Comptroller and Auditor General's reports, Mr. Moran's own statement of strategy, and other issues of public discourse. I will structure my questioning around six areas, first, the European situation with regard to our own debt; second, the banking division within the Department of Finance; third, the issue of bankers' pay and the ongoing Mercer's report; fourth, Mr. Moran's new revised statement of strategy to which he referred in his opening statement; fifth, the issue of IBRC; and, sixth, the ending of the bank guarantee scheme at the end of this month. I will put questions back and forth to Mr. Moran if he is agreeable to that.

On the situation at a European level, the promissory note was one stage, which I suppose is now dealt with. We have heard in the media, and comments from the Minister for Finance this week, about the ongoing efforts to postpone the repayment of the €40 billion bailout loans this country has received. Could Mr. Moran bring us up to date on the position with regard to that? Also, will he give the committee some level of detail on what the Minister referred to as options 1 to 5? The Minister said in media comments during the week that option 1 would be of very little benefit to the country whereas option 5 would be of massive benefit to the Exchequer. Mr. Moran might bring us up to speed on that, and also give the committee an overview of the difference we could see with regard to debt sustainability, depending on whether we get option 1, 5 or 3.