Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Is it really a healthy position? The Minister refers to the ESM and EFSF loans. Are they not really irrelevant at this stage, given that we were allowed to refinance at face value rather than the net present value, NPV? Is the reality not that over 34% of our marketable debt requires refinancing in a very tight period of June 2019 to October 2020?

In addition, I am informed that there is a requirement on the Central Bank to dispose of the floating rate note, FRN, instruments acquired on the nationalisation of Anglo-Irish Bank, which will accelerate from €500 million per annum to €1 billion per annum by 2019. Those repurchases have been made by the NTMA and the stock cancelled at prices up to and above 150% of the nominal value.

The key point is that these contracted repurchases add significantly to the amount of debt requiring refinancing in a highly concentrated timescale and, it is fair to say, the percentage requiring refinancing has been lowered by a tiny amount over the last year, given the NTMA's execution on request by market makers of switches. It seems to be always acting reactively and not proactively. Has the NTMA sheltered behind the belief that lower coupons on maturing debt is the same as having efficient debt management from the start? It has watched ten year yields more than treble, from 0.3% to over 0.9% over the last six month, while 30 year yields have risen from 1.3% to 2%, yet it has done nothing to take advantage of that. Is there the possibility of a perfect storm if Brexit goes badly wrong and we do not have a free trade area, along with other things that might happen to the country in late 2019? It will be an issue for the Deputy's successor after a general election, but nonetheless it will be a great issue for our country.

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