Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)

As I have indicated, I am committed to reviewing the approach to the promissory notes with a view to reducing the overall cost to the State of correcting the banking system. The troika has agreed to engage in a process with Irish officials to produce a common paper which will consider options for re-engineering the notes in terms of the maturity of the notes, the interest rate, the cash flows and so on. Any solution must be consistent with the orderly resolution of IBRC that is already under way. In tandem with this technical review, I recently met with Commissioner Rehn and the President of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, to progress the matter. Additional detail on such proposals will be available when the ongoing work is further advanced.

Given the nature of advocacy and the decision making process in the EU, I would not expect this matter to be concluded in the short term.

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