Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We are coming up to a difficult position. The triggers are always the repayment dates for Greece, of which there were four in the month of June for the IMF. There is small print in IMF contract documents and there is at least one precedent that if a country owes a number of repayments to the IMF in the one month, it can bundle them and put them to the end of the month. There was a decision to do that. Even if a repayment was not made at the end of June, there would not be an immediate default. It would be considered to be arrears due for another calendar month. That would not create a crisis. The problem is not in that area. Rather, the problem arises if Greece needs extra money not to default, because in certain countries such as Germany and Finland there has to be a parliamentary process to vote extra money. Other parliaments, including ours, are going into recess in July, and because of the recess in Germany and other countries, very little space would be available to conduct the necessary parliamentary process to vote the money from individual counties or authorise the money under the legal authorisations required in other countries if an agreement was reached with Greece.

In terms of payments, about €3.5 billion is due to the ECB on 20 July. As a result of the parliamentary process necessary, we will reach the endpoint before 20 July.