Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)

As I have said on several occasions, we are pursuing the possibility of achieving a full deal on a replacement of the promissory note with a mechanism which would, in general terms, lengthen the period of repayment and reduce the interest rate to make it significantly easier on the Irish taxpayer. However, we are not looking for any write-offs or anything like that, because it was made quite clear when the Greek deal was done that it was a unique arrangement for that country. Deputy Boyd Barrett asked a similar question, to which I offer an analogy. If one opts to replace a five year term loan involving very onerous payments with a type of mortgage arrangement over 25 years, one will end up paying more but the annual payments will be much less burdensome. Moreover, by the end of the repayment term, growth and inflation will have eliminated much of the burden of the debt. One should bear in mind that most national debt is not repaid, rather it is serviced by paying the interest on it and then it is rolled over. As a factor of GDP, it reduces dramatically as the years go by in a growing economy with some inflation.

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