Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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10. To ask the Minister for Finance the discussions he has had with the IMF and other troika parties regarding the early repayment of programme loans; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28542/14]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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This is with regard to paying off some of our IMF and other troika loans. The Minister spoke about this earlier. Perhaps we could take advantage of the very low bond rates at present to restructure our international obligations and allow us remove a little pressure from our domestic finances which may save having to make some very tough decisions in October.

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The question of early repayment of any one lender cannot be treated in isolation from other lenders and market expectations for when programme loans are due to be repaid. The early repayment of IMF loans would trigger automatic mandatory proportionate early repayments of EFSF and EFSM loans, as well as the bilateral loans with the United Kingdom, Kingdom of Sweden and Kingdom of Denmark. This would also apply in respect of the early repayment of the loans from any of the other programme funding partners. The provisions in question are included in the loan agreements with the EFSF, EFSM and the UK, Sweden and Denmark.

There have been no discussions on early repayment of our programme loans with the troika. As part of an ongoing process of enhancing our debt sustainability, technical issues are considered as a matter of course. This review process can include contact with other authorities to assess that their understanding of the position on the loans is the same as ours. That is no more than a prudent checking of the factual position. It does not represent a decision or a proposal of any kind.

The impact of any early repayment of any of our loans, as set out in the question, on our bond yields would need to be carefully considered were such a possibility to arise. Should it become a possibility, I would take the advice of the NTMA on this matter and if it was to be pursued, the agreement of the other lenders would, of course, be required. I should also point out that, as the IMF loans have a shorter average maturity, they will be repaid considerably in advance of the EFSF and EFSM loans for which we negotiated maturity extensions.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for his reply. Given the low bond yields and given that we are now moving into the ten-year period regarding the IMF loan, would the Minister consider some technical options that might be available for paying down the IMF loans early and then suggesting to our partners in Europe that it would be good for Ireland, our economy and Europe if we could restructure these things - we would not be running away from our obligations? It would be favourable if the sequential condition in terms of the repayment of loans to the UK, Denmark, etc., could be renegotiated in light of our ability to borrow at much lower rates on the bond markets than we are paying in interest rates to the IMF in particular.

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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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.