Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

There are a number of distinct issues in this motion, including the promissory notes, payment to unguaranteed senior bondholders and reductions in Government spending. The promissory notes were a mechanism of providing capital to the former Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide Building Society institutions without having to pay the cash up front. The previous Government effectively issued an IOU in the form of a promissory note. As it stands, the State has a debt to these institutions and it also has an associated interest charge. This interest charge was set by reference to Government yields at the date of issue. As currently structured, the total cost of the promissory notes out to 2031 is approximately €47.8 billion. The reality for the Government at that time was that having committed to guarantee the bank's debts unconditionally, it had no option but to provide capital to those distressed institutions and to commit to maintaining the institutions as going concerns.

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