Government Bonds

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 13 February 2013

Wednesday, 13 February 2013

Questions (56)

Pearse Doherty

Question:

56. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance if he will confirm the maximum period for which the Central Bank of Ireland may hold any sovereign bond issued as part of the proposed bond issued as part of the proposed new scheme to substitute the promissory notes provided to the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation with sovereign and National Asset Management Agency bonds; and the factors that will affect the period for which the Central Bank has discretion in any decision to hold the sovereign bonds. [7723/13]

Written answers

Minister for Finance

The Central Bank have undertaken that minimum of bonds will be sold in accordance with the following schedule: €0.5bn by the end of 2014, €0.5bn per annum from 2015 to 2018, €1bn per annum from 2019 to 2023 and €2bn per annum from 2024 onwards.

This schedule of mandatory sales would exhaust the portfolio in 2032. The bonds will be placed in the Central Bank's trading portfolio and sold as soon as possible, provided that conditions of financial stability permit. The disposal strategy will maintain full compliance with the Treaty prohibition on monetary financing.