Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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63. To ask the Minister for Finance the amount of interest paid on the national debt in 2020 that was contracted since 2008. [25846/20]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Exchequer cash interest paid in respect of Ireland’s national debt for the eight-month period January to August 2020 was just over €3.75 billion. This is a provisional, unaudited figure, as provided to me by the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA). It is close to €200 million (5%) lower than the same period in 2019.

It includes interest paid on Government bonds, EU Programme loans, other medium/long term debt, short-term debt, and State Savings products.

It is difficult to say precisely how much of this interest relates to borrowing contracted since 2008 due to certain complexities in the debt portfolio. Examples of these complexities include (i) certain State Savings products allow additions, reinvestments and withdrawals before maturity and (ii) bonds can be auctioned or cancelled from any series regardless of their original issue date.

That said however, it is the case that the vast bulk of the national debt interest paid in the first eight months of 2020 relates to debt contracted since 2008.