Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, United Left)
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106. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will estimate the interest to be paid by the State between February 2013 and end December 2014 on the €25 billion sovereign bonds used to swap with the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation promissory notes in February 2013. [22482/14]

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, United Left)
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107. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will estimate the interest to be paid by the State between February 2013 and end December 2014 on the portion of the €25 billion sovereign bonds used to swap with the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation promissory notes in February 2013 that have been disposed of by the Central Bank of Ireland to the bond market, including the €350 million of bonds which the Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland recently stated had been disposed of in 2013. [22483/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 106 and 107 together.

The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) issued eight new Floating Rate Treasury Bonds to the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) on 8 February 2013 to replace the Promissory Notes previously held by IBRC. The bonds have maturities ranging from 25 to 40 years and pay interest every six months in mid-June and in mid-December based on the six-month Euribor interest rate plus an interest margin which averages 2.63% across the eight issues.  Total cash interest on the floating rate bonds in 2013 was just under €0.65 billion. Cash interest payable in 2014 is currently estimated to be just under €0.8 billion, the increase compared to 2013 largely reflecting the fact that a full year's interest is payable this year. The CBI is presently the holder of the entire portfolio of these floating rate bonds and, on that basis, interest payable is currently accruing to the CBI. The CBI has undertaken that bonds to the minimum value indicated will be sold in accordance with the following schedule:  €0.5 billion to end-2014, €0.5 billion per annum in 2015-2018, €1 billion per annum in 2019-2023 and €2 billion per annum from 2024 onwards. Interest payable will accrue to the purchaser of the bonds, rather than the CBI, once the bonds are sold. During 2013 the CBI sold €350 million of its holdings of the 5.4% Treasury Bond 2025. This is a fixed rate bond and so separate from the Floating Rate Treasury Bonds.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, United Left)
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108. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will estimate the net cost, taking account of the fact that any surplus at the Central Bank of Ireland is remitted to the Exchequer, to the State of the decision of the Central Bank of Ireland to dispose of the initial target of €500 million of the €25 billion of the so-called promissory note sovereign bonds before the initial target date of 31 December 2014; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22484/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Central Bank of Ireland is independent in the exercise of its functions and the management of its investment holdings is a matter for the bank itself.  Neither I nor the Department of Finance have any role in those matters. Subsequent to the liquidation of IBRC the Central Bank acquired €25bn of Floating Rate Notes (FRNs) and €3.46bn of Government Fixed Coupon 2025 bonds.  The Bank undertook to sell the combined portfolio of the FRNs and the fixed rate bond as soon as possible provided that conditions of financial stability permit.  The Bank also indicated that, as a minimum, it will make sales in accordance with the following schedule: to end 2014 (€0.5 billion), 2015-2018 (€0.5 billion per annum), 2019-2023 (€1 billion per annum), and 2024 on (€2 billion per annum until all bonds are sold).  The Bank's recent Annual Report notes that sales have been made from this combined portfolio, with the Bank selling €350mn of its holdings of the Government 2025 Fixed Rate Bond in 2013.  The timing of the sales is a matter for the Central Bank which may elect to sell bonds at a particular time if it feels that this is the best course of action, for example, in order to take advantage of favourable market conditions. 

The Central Bank provides the Department of Finance with an estimate of expected surplus income to be paid to the Central Fund on a regular basis. This estimate will continue to form part of the Government's overall budgetary strategy. However, the level of detail on the composition of its profits provided by the Central Bank of Ireland to the Department is not sufficiently granular to enable the Department to estimate the impact on those profits of the timing of specific bond disposals undertaken by the CBI.