Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 111: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will provide an update on the visit by EU and International Monetary Fund officials assessing the implementation of the EU/IMF programme for assistance agreed in November 2010. [7496/11]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 112: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will provide details of his engagement with International Monetary Fund and EU officials over the past week. [7497/11]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 113: To ask the Minister for Finance the discussions he has had with EU and International Monetary Fund officials regarding the introduction of a jobs budget, including the reversal of the new minimum wage; and the outcome of these discussions. [7498/11]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 114: To ask the Minister for Finance the steps he has taken to move forward the last Government's negotiations on an interest rate reduction following the publication of the stress test results. [7499/11]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 111, 112, 113 and 114 together.

Part of the conditions of the EU-IMF Programme of Financial Support for Ireland is that there should be quarterly reviews of the programme to assess progress against the agreed targets. The first review was scheduled for February but was deferred because of the election and has now been combined with the second review which is currently underway and will finish this Friday, 15th April 2011.

The Review comprises a series of meetings to evaluate all the elements of the programme including fiscal developments, the macroeconomic outlook, progress on commitments in the restructuring of the financial sector and structural reform. These meetings, which are ongoing, range from technical discussions at official level to policy discussions at senior official and political level.

The outcome of these discussions will be a revised set of targets – which will take into account recent developments. Additional detail will be specified in respect of some conditions, while further conditions will be added, for example in relation to the structural benchmarks contained in the Memorandum for Economic and Financial Policies, and the policy conditions in the Memorandum of Understanding on Specific Economic Policy Conditionality.

Regarding the Government's planned Jobs Fund and matters relating to the minimum wage, these are all up for ongoing consideration at Government and the decisions will be announced in due course.

Since this Government came to office, it has been seeking to achieve reductions in the interest rates on EU loans to Ireland as part of its overall approach on the EU-IMF programme. The decision on this will be made by Eurogroup and ECOFIN Ministers, and it is being addressed through that forum. However, the Government is availing of every opportunity to present our case on the interest rate – including the current Mission.

Finally, I would like to point out that our discussions with the external partners – the EU and IMF - are ongoing and when completed the Government will comment further.