Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

I thank the Deputy for that. On the latter issue, we have not set any specific timeframes. Something we wanted to see happen for quite some time was a joint approach by the ECB, the IMF and the European Commission. They are working on the paper, and the Minister for Finance has made it clear that when it is produced, the issue will be brought to the political arena. Given the difficulties we have all had to cope with at a European level, and now that the Greek issue has hopefully been resolved in the medium term, this and other issues will now come on the agenda and progress can be made. We do not have any specific timeframes, which is important.

On the issue of the capital and the interest, while we are considering all options, I do not think there is any indication in anything the Minister for Finance has said that we are looking for a significant write-down on the totality of the debt. What the Minister has said is that the key issue for the Government is to redesign the promissory note, either in terms of maturity or of the interest rate itself, because this has effectively become a sovereign debt by virtue of the fact that the bank was nationalised and the assets and liabilities guaranteed. We want to ensure the best possible outcome but, as we have said in the past, that will be achieved by agreement. We will not take some radical unilateral position on this.

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