Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)

My understanding is that we would have discretion, but we have not yet made a policy decision. Obviously, we would need to obtain the advice of the NTMA. In the future we would certainly not want the repayments to be lumpy - in other words, that there would be a very large repayment in any one year. We will use the discretion allowed for on the timeframe to ensure payments are ordered in such a manner they can be made in the easiest possible way and will also look at the advantages in terms of cost as we advance. Spreading out a loan obviously reduces the burden, but it is also the case that one pays more overall. In managing their normal personal finances people build extensions, for example, to a term loan of five years. They find the repayments a little heavy and have the loan rolled into a mortgage. They will end up paying more, but it will be much easier to make repayments and the burden of the debt will not weigh as heavily. This measure is analogous.

As I understand it, on the grace period, Greece will have an arrangement for 15 to 30 years and may seek a further arrangement for 40 years.

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