Deal 'eases burden on everybody'

The deal on bank debt secured by the Government yesterday "eases the burden on everybody", Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has said.

The agreement, which will reduce the country’s borrowing needs by €20 billion in the coming decade and ease budget pressures over the next two years was unveiled by Taoiseach Enda Kenny in the Dáil yesterday.

Mr Noonan said today there was now no promissory note that meant a payment of €3.1 billion to be repaid "this March, next March or any March".

"There will be no capital to be repaid until the bonds mature - no capital repayments whatsoever until 2038." The last capital repayments would be in 2053.

Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Pat Kenny programme, Mr Noonan said what usuallyed happened with such sovereign debt was that when it came up to the point of repayment "you roll it over, you refinance it. Most sovereign debt never gets repaid but it runs down in value".

Questioned on Ireland's €9,000 per capita figure owed in relation to banking debt compared to the €125 average in other EU countries, Mr Noonan said the figures were "interesting statistics". But he said every country had debt. The US had "enormous" debt and a "frightening" level per capita.

"But that's not the way the world works."

Referring to a listener's correspondence, he said children today would not have to worry about promissory notes or debt if the Government could "get this right". "It's improving every month and we will continue driving at it."

There was sustained applause from Fine Gael and Labour TDs for the Taoiseach when he sat down after outlining the agreement with the European Central Bank (ECB) to the chamber.

The announcement of the deal came after 24 hours of political drama which saw emergency legislation to liquidate the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC), formerly Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide Building Society, being rushed through the Oireachtas early yesterday morning.

The Cabinet met at 2pm yesterday to approve the complex deal agreed earlier with the European Central Bank after months of negotiations.

Mr Kenny came into the Dáil immediately afterwards to announce that, under an agreement with the ECB, the controversial promissory notes were being exchanged for long-term Irish government bonds with maturities of up to 40 years.

“The remnants of Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide, stains on our international reputations and dents to our national pride, have now been removed from the financial and political landscape. Their closure bookends a tragic chapter in our country’s history,” he said.

Good day for Ireland

Arriving in Brussels later last night for a meeting of EU leaders, Mr Kenny said it was a "good day for Ireland".

The Taoiseach said he planned to "explain to leaders when it is appropriate" the nature of the agreement and the arrangement arrived at for Ireland, which he was was "very much in the Irish people's interests".

He said the promissory note deal was "recognition of where there clearly is evidence of a government and a people working together in taking on challenging positions, that that challenge can be rewarded by co-operation and assistance from our European partners".