Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 22 November 2012

Public Accounts Committee

2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 4 - National Pensions Reserve Fund
Chapter 25 - Accounts of the National Treasury Management Agency
National Treasury Management Agency - Financial Statements 2011
National Pensions Reserve Fund Commission - Financial Statements 2011

11:40 am

Mr. John Corrigan:

There are two dimensions to that question. In absolute terms the yields on Irish Government bonds are now at levels that we did not see when Ireland was a AAA-rated country. The key difference is that the spread over Germany is still extremely elevated. The key question is whether the German yields rise towards us or whether we continue to fall towards German yields. It would be inappropriate of me to comment because that would be getting into the area of speculating the direction and magnitude of Irish Government yields.