Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 16 January 2013
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform
Matters Relating to the Economy: Discussion with Governor of Central Bank
2:50 pm
Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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Can I ask another question? Having read Professor Honohan's statement to the committee, it is clear that an agreement on the promissory note issue is done and dusted and there is just a bit of tidying up to be done. What we have designed is largely in the interests of the eurozone system as a whole. The design is there and I appreciate that Professor Honohan is not going to tell us about it here. However, I ask him to give us some indicators on a few key questions which are of interest to ordinary people because most people do not care about accountancy tricks. Will this design reduce our debt to GDP ratio? Will it reduce the amount of capital we have to pay to the IBRC? Will it reduce the amount of interest to be paid or will an extension of the term actually result in an increased amount of interest? On those three questions, can Professor Honohan give some indication as to the impact of the design being considered?