Varadkar urges promissory note deferral

The Government should seek to defer the payment of Ireland’s next €3 billion promissory note by issuing a long-term bond, according to Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar.

In 2010 the previous government committed to paying €31 billion to the now defunct Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide in promissory note instalments.

Last March, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan announced the Government would defer payment of a €3.06 million promissory note and instead finance the amount through a 13-year bond.

Mr Varadkar told Newstalk Radio today that Ireland issued a bond to avoid paying the promissory note this year "and I don't see why we would pay it [next year]."

He said he imagined the Government would take this course of action but added "it wouldn't be right for me to make policy announcements in [Mr Noonan's] space."

Last month, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said he expected Ireland to do a deal with the European Union by next March so that "we will not have to fork out €3 billion".

Mr Kenny told the Dáil the intention was that the note "will have been re-engineered in such a way as to ensure we will not have to fork out €3 billion. That is our hope and intent."