Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

The Deputy is under a serious delusion if he thinks the hard questions will not be or are not being asked. As the Deputy is aware, the European Union portion of the EU-IMF programme funding for Ireland is made up of the European financial stabilisation mechanism, EFSM, the European financial stability facility, EFSF, and the bilateral loans from the United Kingdom, Sweden and Denmark. Moreover, as the Deputy also is aware, of these three only the EFSM relates directly to the European Union. Based on the full drawdown of the €22.5 billion from the EFSM, the current margin of 2.925% and an average maturity of 7.5 years, the gross margin will be approximately €4.9 billion, out of which it will be necessary to deduct costs. The Deputy is aware of these figures as he was a member of the Government that signed up for the programme. In contrast, the margin on borrowing from the EFSF accrues to the EFSF in the first instance. Based on the current margin of 2.47%, full drawdown of the €17.7 billion available and an average maturity of 7.5 years, the gross margin will be approximately €3.3 billion. The margin from the bilateral loans accrues to the relevant country and thus far, only the United Kingdom facility has been agreed. It provides for a margin of 2.29%, which is approximately €650 million. These figures are not new but are well known. The agreements and therefore the margins for Denmark and Sweden have yet to be finalised and signed off. These matters are linked and the Government will continue to pursue the question of agreement on the overall interest rate and will continue to ask the hard questions.

See this speech in context