Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is something I am considering. I have asked the NTMA to do preliminary work and we will continue to explore it. The first obstacle I have come up against is the pari passurule in law whereby one treats others equally to put it at its simplest. It is the obligation to pay everybody if we pay one and makes it not worth pursuing. However, there may be ways around that and it is still worth pursuing that aspect. At present rates in the market and with the rate we are paying on the IMF loan, it is worth about €20 million for every €1 billion we financed. We have about €18 billion of that type of loan from the IMF.

See this speech in context