Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for raising the matter and note their interest over many months in pursuing this issue with the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan.

What the Government is seeking to achieve with its European partners to underpin Ireland's exit from the programme is complex and is not simply a matter of requesting the same policy tools as have applied in the case of Greece. We should recall that serious budgetary and economic problems led to Greece's requiring urgent financial assistance in early 2010 and additional measures since. Despite the assistance provided in 2010 and the further assistance provided later, Greece's problems remained and its financial position continued to give cause for significant concern. Thus, in late 2012 a range of additional measures were agreed at EU level which were designed to help Greece to meet its commitments under its programme of financial assistance. It is worth noting that the measures taken were unique and particular to the very grave situation that obtained in Greece. It is also important to note that these actions were taken with significant additional conditionality, which I can refer to later and which we would not wish to be applied in our case.

The measures agreed in respect of Greece included a debt buyback of bonds held by private investors - what was called private-sector involvement; a reduction of 100 basis points in the interest rate margin on the Greek loan facility, bringing it to 50 basis points; a cancellation of the guarantee commitment fee on EFSF loans; an extension of the maximum maturities of the loan to Greece by 15 years to 30 years, which is a measure we are working on following our communiqué to ECOFIN and the eurozone in January 2013; the deferral of interest payments on EFSF loans for ten years; and an agreement that member states will pass on to Greece's segregated account an amount equivalent to the income on the securities market programme portfolio accruing to their national central banks from budget year 2013. This last measure is a transfer from the relevant member states, not the ECB.

On the question of the amount of money involved, while a figure for the profits made by the European Central Bank, ECB, on its holding of Irish Government bonds is not available, it published information on its holdings of bonds under its securities market programme on Thursday, 21 February 2013. This showed the ECB held €14.2 billion nominal value of Irish bonds on 31 December 2012, with an average remaining maturity of 4.6 years.

The package of measures for Greece agreed late last year by eurozone Finance Ministers was designed to help put the Greek economy on the road to recovery. The package was agreed in the context of the statement by euro area Heads of Government that the scale of the Greek problem is so large that it requires special attention. It is important to note again that the concessions that have been agreed are specific to Greece and are accompanied by significant additional conditionality.

It must be acknowledged Ireland is in a very different situation to Greece. Our programme is working. We have completed over 190 agreed targets and have surpassed many including our annual deficit targets. Growth has returned to the economy and I particularly welcome yesterday's figures showing positive employment growth. Furthermore, as a country exiting a programme, our situation cannot be seen as comparable to Greece. We are, however, examining the Greek package to see if aspects of it offer any possible benefit to Ireland, particularly for our exit.

We have had positive news recently. The elimination of the promissory notes and Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, IBRC, the sale of the Bank of Ireland CoCos, contingent convertible capital notes, the recent sale of Irish Life, and just this week, the announcement of the end of the bank guarantee are all significant milestones on the way to our recovery. We still, however, have very important and necessary decisions to take, as evidenced by the recent agreement on public sector pay. Ireland is a country very different from Greece.

We must also recall the benefits we have already received, notably assistance in the form of reduction of interest rates and extended maturities. In addition, the Heads of Government statement of June last year on breaking the link between banks and sovereigns made explicit reference to supporting Ireland's well-performing adjustment programme. It is important to remember Ireland is exiting a programme. We should have regard to what we need to assist that exit rather than focus solely on measures provided for a country in very different circumstances.

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