Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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253. To ask the Minister for Finance the State's policy regarding the remaining bailout funds and the possibility of exchanging or rolling these debts over to maximise the advantage of the current very low interest rates; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25206/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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There is limited scope for additional interest savings resulting from further early repayment of EU-IMF programme loans.

Unlike in the case of the early IMF repayment of late 2014 and early 2015, Ireland would be subject to a break-cost charge were it to repay some of the other loan facilities early. These charges could negate any potential savings arising from a potential early repayment.

In addition, the early repayment of programme loans to the IMF, EFSF, EFSM, United Kingdom, Sweden or Denmark would also trigger automatic mandatory proportional early repayments to each of the other programme funding partners unless, as was the case with the IMF early repayment, the other lenders agreed to waive the mandatory proportional early repayment clause.  A condition of the agreement to waive this clause in the case of the early IMF repayment was that Ireland retains a significant element of IMF funding in order to maintain the IMF's participation in post-programme monitoring for the duration initially envisaged, which is out to 2021.

It is important to point out that, while Ireland along with other euro area countries, is currently experiencing historically low interest rates on new borrowings, the vast majority of our EU-IMF borrowings are either at fixed interest rates or are less expensive on a like-for-like basis. Therefore, there would be no immediate saving notwithstanding the points raised earlier in this answer. For example, the two main lenders, EFSF and EFSM have higher credit ratings than Ireland which means they can borrow at less expensive interests rates compared to Ireland. We receive these monies at cost.

My Department, in conjunction with the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), will always seek to avail of any appropriate opportunity for savings on the cost of our EU-IMF programme loans and the matter is being kept under ongoing review.