Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Finance further to the announcement of his Department that negotiations to sell €500m - €1bn of Bank of Ireland contingent capital notes had concluded, if he will provide an assessment of the impact of the transaction on the prospects of securing a deal to recoup at a European level other sums used to bailout the banks. [6624/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The State’s successful disposal of the Bank of Ireland contingent capital notes earlier this year is further evidence of investors’ confidence in Ireland and demonstrates that there is a market appetite for Irish assets. However, the Government is still heavily involved in drawing up the operational criteria that will guide direct bank recapitalisations by the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), in full respect of the 29 June 2012 euro area Summit statement.

The European Council stated on 14 December 2012 that “once an effective SSM is established, the ESM will be able to recapitalise banks directly. An agreement on the operational framework supporting this possibility, including the definition of legacy assets, should be agreed as soon as possible in the first semester of 2013”.

Ireland continues to be fully engaged in this process within the Eurogroup and among Heads of State or Government. Furthermore, officials from my Department also attend technical meetings with the ESM and other member states. In this regard, discussions remain on-going and no conclusion has been reached.

Notwithstanding these discussions, I also will continue to explore any market opportunities to get a return of any of the sums used to bail out the banks.