Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Finance if he has sought a deferral of interest payable on loans from the European Financial Stability Facility and European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism; if he sees merit in such a course of action; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4202/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The deferral of interest on loans received under a programme of financial assistance from the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism (EFSM) that you propose arose in the context of the recently agreed package of measures designed to further assist Greece regain financial stability. The interest Greece will pay on its EFSF loans (it has no loans from the EFSM) will be deferred for 10 years, but will continue to accrue and that accrual will itself be subject to interest. It is important to note that the concessions that have been agreed are specific to Greece and are accompanied by significant additional conditionality. In Ireland on the other hand we have entered the final year of our programme. As such our focus is on making a successful exit from the programme and a return to sustainable market based funding.

Ireland’s needs, as a country exiting a programme, are very different to those of Greece. We are however examining the Greek package to see if aspects of it offer any possible benefit to Ireland, particularly in the context of our programme exit. In this context, the Deputy will be aware of the recent decision by the Eurogroup and ECOFIN to consider a request for an extension of maturities for the EFSF and EFSM funding for Ireland and Portugal. This proposal will be examined by senior officials and will then come back to Finance Ministers for decision.