Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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58. To ask the Minister for Finance the planned date on which Ireland will no longer be subject to post-programme surveillance having repaid at least 75% of the financial assistance it has received from other member states, the EFSF and other sources. [49704/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Post programme surveillance is a long standing feature of IMF assistance programmes. In the European context, Regulation No 472/2013 which is part of what is known as the “Two-Pack”, now provides for a similar arrangement for euro area member states in a post-programme situation. This is quite normal and is part of the wider governance changes that have been put in place at the EU level for all Member States to improve the way the euro area functions. In fact, these new governance arrangements help deal with some of the major problems that faced the euro area in the past and they will help avoid such problems emerging in the future. These new governance arrangements provide reassurance to the markets. They provide an early warning system if problems begin to emerge, they reduce the risk of contagion spreading from one Member State to another, and they increase peer review pressure to help ensure responsible policies are pursued by all Member States in the euro area. This is important for small Member States with very open economies such as Ireland. Of course, it works both ways and we must act responsibly too and the post-programme surveillance arrangements must be seen in that context.

Under the “Two-Pack” regulation on strengthening economic and budgetary surveillance a Post-Programme Surveillance process will be put in place and maintained for a member country until the balance outstanding under EU-sourced financial assistance falls below 25% of the total. EU-sourced financial assistance includes loans from the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism (EFSM), and from the bilateral lenders. The average maturities for the EFSF and EFSM loans were extended by an average of seven years following agreement in Dublin in April. In the case of the EFSF, the details of the maturity extension have been agreed. However, for the EFSM loans which are funded differently, the details of the maturity extension will not be known until the existing loans mature. It is therefore not possible to give a definitive estimate of the date on which Post-Programme Surveillance will cease.