Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

While I welcome the reduction in the dependence of financial institutions on ECB funding, that dependence has increased since October. That is, while it is lower than the peak of last summer, it is rising once again. Is the Minister confident we will have enough qualifying collateral as the ECB tightens its lending range, as it has indicated it will in the course of the year? The values applied to many Irish denominated bonds are being downgraded, with the result that some could fall out of qualification. Is the Minister confident that Irish banks have sufficient qualifying paper?

Second, will Irish Government paper as issued through NAMA qualify at the ECB in all circumstances? Could the downgrading of Irish bonds and the ECB's tighter lending categories ever exclude Irish NAMA paper from being brought to the ECB for liquidity? In other words, does the Minister have a guarantee that at all times and forever Irish NAMA paper will be accepted for liquidity purposes at the ECB?

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