Mr. Colm McCarthy:

The history of what happened is as follows. In November 2010, we were the second country to get into trouble and the troika was more organised by then. The troika was a shotgun marriage that arose early in 2010 in quite disorganised circumstances. We were the first outing it had as a threesome, as it were. The deal that was done here featured an adequate amount of financial support, in my opinion.

Some of it involved us selling off financial assets owned by the Irish Government. That is another day's work. One of the weaknesses or unsatisfactory features in the financing of the Irish programme was the application of very high interest rates. I am sure members will recall that this was resisted by the IMF at the time. The IMF guys in Dublin were very unhappy with the terms of the November 2010 deal, but they were overruled. If I recall correctly, the initial rate on the European money was 5.8%. I think the rates on some of the other stuff were even higher. Subsequently, the Irish Government succeeded, including through the promissory note deal but separately as well with the European financial stability facility money, as it was called, in getting a lengthening of maturities and a reduction in interest rates. The initial interest rates were ridiculous. They were absolutely unpayable.