Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Finance further to his statement on 21 January 2013, that, in relation to proposals apparently made at the recent Ecofin and Eurogroup meetings we are not talking about hundreds of millions, we are talking about savings of a certain amount of billions, if he will outline an illustrative calculation which would indicate how billions might be saved. [5296/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I refer the Deputy to the answer I gave to Question No. 73 of 30 January 2013 in which I outlined the background to the proposals to which he refers. I also set out the assumptions underpinning my assertion that an extension of our EFSF and EFSM loans could yield significant further savings, over time. In my answer on 30 January I noted that the savings arising will depend on a number of factors - the amount of loans for which a maturity extension is agreed, the length of any maturity extension and the assumption made about the extent to which the EFSF and EFSM borrowings are cheaper than borrowings by Ireland. It is possible to draw up various combinations of these factors which would give rise to significant savings of the order of magnitude referenced. Any such scenario would be highly tentative and sensitive to the assumptions about the various factors outlined. As the Deputy is aware this matter is under discussion at EU level, and at this stage I do not think it is appropriate to provide any particular estimate, even for illustrative purposes.