Martin Ferris (Kerry North, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 136: To ask the Minister for Finance the way in which the quarterly reviews, as agreed with the EU and the International Monetary Fund under the Memorandum of Understanding, will be undertaken; the outcome in the event that he does not meet the terms under the review; if he will introduce any emergency budgets or measures if they have fallen short of what is expected by the EU/IMF under the terms of the package agreed by them; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1408/11]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The policy conditionality associated with the EU-IMF Programme for Ireland is set out in the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies and in the Memorandum of Understanding on Specific Economic Policy Conditionality. These documents together with the Technical Memorandum of Understanding which are collectively referred to as the MoU have been laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas. The position in relation to quarterly reviews is summarised in the following extract from the MoU. "The quarterly disbursement of financial assistance from the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism (EFSM) On 28 November 2010 Eurogroup and ECOFIN Ministers issued a statement clarifying that euro-area and EU financial support will be provided on the basis of the programme which has been negotiated with the Irish authorities by the Commission and the IMF, in liaison with the ECB. Further to the Union support from the EFSM, loans from the EU and its Member States will include contributions from the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and bilateral lending support from the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Denmark. The Loan Facility Agreements on these financing contributions will specify that the disbursements thereunder are subject to the compliance with the conditions of this Memorandum will be subject to quarterly reviews of conditionality for the duration of the programme. Release of the instalments will be based on observance of quantitative performance criteria, respect for EU Council Decisions and Recommendations in the context of the excessive deficit procedure, and a positive evaluation of progress made with respect to policy criteria in the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP) and in this Memorandum of Understanding on specific economic policy conditionality (MoU), which specifies the detailed criteria that will be assessed for the successive reviews up to the end of 2013. If targets are (expected to be) missed, additional action will be taken.

The authorities commit to consult with the European Commission, the ECB and the IMF on the adoption of policies that are not consistent with this Memorandum. They will also provide the European Commission, the ECB and the IMF with all information requested that is available to monitor progress during programme implementation and to track the economic and financial situation. Prior to the release of the instalments, the authorities shall provide a compliance report on the fulfilment of the conditionality."

As the Government is committed to ensuring compliance with the policy conditionality of the MoU, the question of emergency budgets or measures is not at present envisaged.