Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 3 October 2013
54. Deputy Peter Mathews asked the Minister for Finance the reason bank debt negotiated restructuring or bank debt negotiated write off was never sought or requested by the Government from the ECB, the euro system authorities and the EU; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41486/13]
View answerAs the Deputy is aware the Government is committed to delivering a return to a successful vibrant economy. In this context it was decided that there would be no private sector involvement for senior bank paper or Irish Sovereign debt without the agreement of our external partners. The Deputy will be aware that there were discussions with our external partners on the issue of payment to bondholders. I have advised the House on a number of occasions that our European partners expressed strong reservations about burden sharing with senior bondholders and the rationale for this position. This commitment was agreed with our external partners and was the basis on which Ireland's financing strategy was built.
This strategy is working well as evidenced by the reduction in pricing of Irish Sovereign debt in the secondary markets and the significant steps being taken towards regaining full market access by the NTMA. It should also be noted that significant burden-sharing has been achieved through Liability Management Exercise (LME) transactions completed by the covered banks. The purpose of the LMEs was to create additional core tier 1 capital and to strengthen the quality of the capital base of the Banks. Since this Government came to into power, we reduced the cash required from the State by €5.8bn, from burden-sharing with subordinated bondholders. The contribution from burden-sharing with subordinated bondholders amounts to approximately €15bn since the banking crisis began.
