Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 79: To ask the Minister for Finance the value of Irish Government bonds purchased by the ECB over the past number of months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25511/11]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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My Department does not have the information sought by the Deputy. The vast majority of Irish sovereign bonds are held by institutional investors in the Euroclear clearing and settlement system, generally in a nominee account structure which does not permit the identification of the beneficial owners. This is standard market practice in the sovereign bond markets.

While the Central Bank of Ireland maintains a register of Irish Government bonds, the bonds held by Euroclear, representing 99.74% of Irish Government bonds in issue, are registered in one omnibus account in the Central Bank's register and details of the bond transactions relating to those bonds are held by Euroclear. All transactions in relation to the remaining 0.26% of Irish Government bonds are made through the Central Bank and information regarding individual holders is treated as confidential. I might add that my understanding is that the ECB releases figures only for its total purchases of sovereign bonds under its Securities market Programme and does not release information on bond purchases in individual markets.