Britain has paid out the first tranche of its loan to Ireland, announced late last year as a contribution to an international bailout.
"Ireland completed the third quarterly review of its International Monetary Fund and European Union programme of financial assistance on 2 September 2011, at which point the first instalment of the UK bilateral loan became available for drawdown," UK Financial Secretary Mark Hoban said in a statement on Monday.
"Upon request, the Treasury has disbursed the first instalment of £403.37m on 14 October 2011, with a maturity date of 15 April 2019," he said.
The tranche was the first of a total of eight tranches each with a maturity of 7-1/2 years.
It carried an interest of 4.667%, though this will be lowered retro-actively once a lower rate is finalised as announced by Chancellor George Osborne in July.
