The Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has responded to questions about the promissory notes and experts saying it has being passed onto NAMA in Limerick today.
Minister Noonan said that the experts have been proven wrong now on a series of issues.
He said “it is a first step but there's the wider issue of the burden of debt that's on the shoulder of the Irish taxpayer and we're dealing with that as well.”
Mr Noonan also said the experts told us last year that we did not have a hope of getting an interest rate reduction and he added that they have been telling us over the last 3 months that we are wasting our time talking to the European Authorities about the promissory notes.
The government is not claiming that it is a great victory but he said it is a very good first step that Irish taxpayers did not have to pay the €3 billion this weekend, Mr Noonan said.
The promissory deal was announced last Thursday.
He continued to say "we don't have to borrow the money to pay it because that borrowing would have come from the European funds."
The money is available to us to get back into the markets or to use it for public services such as health and education, maybe next year if we need it, Mr Noonan added.
According to the Minister, NAMA is providing a bridging finance for some weeks ahead. The main lender for the bond which is being issued and which won't have to be repaid until 2025 is the Bank of Ireland. There is a bridging period until they get approval from their shareholders.
With regards to the availability of credit, he said there are obviously problems with the availability of credit and the government is trying to get to the bottom of it and see what's really happening as the banks say there's plenty of credit available.
Reiterating Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s comments on the attendance of Denis O'Brien at an event in the New York Stock Exchange, during the visit by the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, last month, despite certain adverse findings in the Moriarty Tribunal Report about the businessman, Michael Noonan, said it was impossible for politicians to control who they meet on public occasions.
Mr Noonan also added that it is an open secret that there is competition between Denis O'Brien and his supporters in Independent Newspapers and the O'Reilly group and their supporters and it is not his business who wins out.
