Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)

When I was answering questions at an earlier stage of the debate, perhaps on Second Stage, I said the ESFM fund was supplying the money without a margin. The relevant deduction was 3.75%, even though we had thought it would be around 2%. That is agreed to in principle, but has not yet been signed off on by the 27 member states. On the other side, regarding the EFSF fund, I have stated that rather than receiving a 2% reduction, we are getting a reduction of 260 basis points. The reason is that some countries, principally Germany, apparently have a parliamentary condition that requires a small margin. I have stated there might be a figure of ten or 15 basis points in this regard. The EFSF fund will have a very small margin, at the insistence of Germany, in order to comply with a decision that country has taken previously. The mechanism to be used for varying anything subsequently is the list of countries that are guarantors.

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