Michael Noonan (Limerick East, Fine Gael)

How big is the fund and how will it break down? How much will be used to replace the money we would otherwise draw from the bond market to close the €19 billion gap in the running costs of the country? Will it be used over three or four years and is it expected that we will return to the bond market? How much will be needed for additional capitalisation of the banks? What about the kind of backstop or confidence building fund that would encourage people to leave their deposits in the banks? We hope that money will not be drawn down but its existence will give confidence to depositors.

What are the terms and interest of the arrangement? Somebody rang me this evening to suggest that we would face a penal interest rate of 7%. I understood it would be around 5% but this gentleman seemed to know what he was talking about. He advised me it would be a nine year arrangement rather then the three years I had expected. He also described a peculiar arrangement whereby 30% of what was given would have to be put on deposit as a contribution to the backstop fund. Is this fiction? A lot of the rumours going the rounds are not true but other material is truthful. The Minister is not doing himself a service by withholding the facts. Rumours are always killed by fact but they will fly in their absence. It is not a good idea to allow the continued circulation of rumours which should be either confirmed or contradicted.

We need to know the proportional contribution of each of the three institutions. Will the funds they contribute be in proportion to their respective sizes and will they go into an Irish fund or be assigned to different purposes? It is difficult to understand why the terms are not set out in clear detail.

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