Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 38: To ask the Minister for Finance his views on the recent downgrade of Irish sovereign debt from AAA to AA+ by a company (details supplied); if he will provide an estimate as to the expected effect this will have on funding costs for Irish sovereign debt for 2009; if the company had communicated to him or his officials at any point over the previous three months certain targets, criteria or benchmarks against which Irish sovereign debt would be considered in the context of a revision of the sovereign rating; the date on which Irish sovereign debt last had a rating lower than AAA; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14099/09]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) have advised me that it is not possible at this stage to quantify the effect of the downgrade on funding costs. Yields have been falling recently from the levels reached in late January and, at this point, the NTMA are of the view that it appears that the effect of the downgrade had already been priced in by the market.

All the rating agencies are in regular contact with my officials, along with officials of the NTMA, the Central Bank and many other public and private bodies in Ireland. While the rating methodology is public, the agencies do not set targets or criteria for individual countries. Finally, while losing the AAA rating is disappointing, I would remind the Deputy that prior to October 2001, Ireland was rated AA+ by at least one rating agency.