EU-IMF Programme of Support Negotiations

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 29 January 2013

Tuesday, 29 January 2013

Questions (359)

Michael McGrath

Question:

359. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will detail the policies being implemented by his Department on which he wrote to the EU / ECB / IMF troika; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3887/13]

Written answers

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform

As the Deputy will be aware Ireland is in the final year of the EU-IMF Programme of Financial Support. The Programme is subject to a quarterly review mission with the three external partners, the EU, the ECB and the IMF (the Troika). It is at these review missions that discussions take place with regard to programme commitments which translate into the Programme documents which are updated and agreed after every mission. The review missions, the 9th of which begins today, involve a large number of technical meetings which are attended by my Department, the Department of Finance and, when appropriate, other Departments, the Central Bank and the NTMA. A wide range of topics are covered at these meetings, including financial reforms, structural reforms, economic developments and the progress of the Programme itself.

Following each review mission the external partners and the Irish authorities agree updated programme documents, specifically the Memorandum of Understanding on Specific Economic Policy Conditionality, the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies and the Technical Memorandum of Understanding. The programme documents outline the policies discussed with our external partners and detail the commitments which we have agreed to. Once the documents are finalised, the Letters of Intent are signed jointly by the Minister for Finance and the Governor of the Central Bank and are issued to the EU and the IMF, along with the accompanying programme documents. The Programme documents then go through an EU and IMF approval procedure and once approved these documents are laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas and placed on the Department of Finance website following their transmission.

I have not had the need to write separately to the Troika on the policies being implemented because of the processes which we have in place, as outlined above. There are, of course continuing contacts at official level, relating to technical and implementation issues.