Some of you might have thought that we would never again see the €300m we gave to Greece at the start of 2010 when we were feeling flaithulach, before the rude awakening with our own bailout in November 2010 when our contributions to Greece were suspended. But it seems we might see some or all of it, even if it will be later than originally planned.
In May 2010, Greece became the first EuroZone country to be given a bailout. The first Greek bailout was done on the nod before the establishment of the formal bailout funds, and we were originally going to contribute €1.3bn but by November 2010 when we sought our own bailout, we had only contributed €345.7m and our additional commitments were suspended. The original plan was that Greece would start repaying the principal from 2013, but last year, we apparently agreed to a deferral and the principal will now be repaid from 2020 and despite all of Greece’s woes we might see it back and we haven’t agreed to a write-down.
We have however received €25.96m in interest from Greece on our loan since 2010. You might recall Minister for Finance Michael Noonan recently reducing economic links between Ireland and Greece to including feta on the weekly shopping list. €25.96m in interest and an outstanding principal of €345.7m – that’s a lot of feta!
The information was revealed in the Dail yesterday in a parliamentary question by the Sinn Fein finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty, responded to by Minister Noonan. This is the full exchange (with emphasis added).
“Deputy Pearse Doherty: the contribution made by the State to the first bailout in Greece in 2010; the way this contribution was accounted for in the deficit and national debt figures; the amount of interest received by Ireland from this contribution; when the sum is due for repayment by Greece to Ireland; if he will provide an assessment of the prospects for the repayment of the contribution; if any provision will be made for any non-repayment in our national accounts..
Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan: Under the Euro Area Loan Facility as agreed for Greece in May 2010, stability support in the form of a joint Euro area/IMF financing package of €110 billion is being provided to Greece over a three-year period.
Ireland contributed €345.7 million (net of a 50 basis points service charge) in respect of the first two tranches of the loan in 2010. Ireland withdrew from participation in the facility when we entered the EU/IMF Programme of Financial Support.
This amount was accounted for as a loan under non-voted capital expenditure.
Interest payments on the loan in respect of Ireland’s contribution to the facility are due quarterly and are calculated on the full nominal amount of the loan (i.e., including the 50 basis points service charge). The original loan agreement provided that the principal would be repayable quarterly over two years starting in 2013 and that the rate of interest, which is variable, would be based on three-month EURIBOR (the average rate at which euro interbank term deposits are being offered by one prime bank to another within the EMU zone) plus a margin of three hundred basis points (3 percentage points) for the first three years and four hundred basis points subsequently. However, the lending countries agreed in 2011 to extend the grace period and term of the loans and to reduce the margin in the interest rate charged to Greece to 100 basis points (one percentage point). As a result, the principal on Ireland’s loan to Greece is due to be repaid over five years beginning in June 2020.
The total amount of interest received by Ireland on the loan to date is €25.96 million.
As the Deputy will be aware, Greece came to an agreement with its private sector creditors in March 2012 which allowed it to restructure debt held by banks and other private investors. However, that restructuring and the consequent losses for investors did not apply to loans under the Euro Area Loan Facility under which Ireland provided a loan to Greece in 2010.”
Is pearse Doherty the only td that asks about Nama ?
Don’t you know, Pierse Doherty is Nama Wine Lake :)
If you follow the link to KildareStreet.com there are a very wide variety of questions from a cross section of the political spectrum,Pierse Doherty’s are certainly more informed and worthy of comment than a lot of the other’s.
He’s also finance spokesman for the second largest party in Ireland,and realistically the official opposition.
http://www.kildarestreet.com/search/?s=Nama
Recent article in the prestigious WSJ.
“Sinn Fein’s support has surged to 24%, according to the Ipsos poll, putting it in second place behind only Mr. Kenny’s Fine Gael. Sinn Fein has also eclipsed the junior coalition partner, the left-of-center Labor Party, whose support has halved to 10% since the election that propelled it to power last year.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303807404577432351386563814.html
it is a bit strange to keep plugging Doherty’s questions – while at the same time not revealing who writes the blog, no?
@Christy,
Let me know if you come across questions from TDs or Senators that are not reported here. If you look back over the past couple of weeks, you will see questions from Maureen O’Sullivan, Timmy Dooley, Michael McGrath, Martin Ferris and Sandra McLellan. These questions and answers are not confidential. They are laid out on the Oireachtas website. There isn’t a massive range to choose from!
The criterion on here for reporting questions is that they add something to the NAMA or economic store of knowledge.
Let me know if you think some question or quotation or contribution has been omitted.
PS Oops! Missed Paschal Donohoe at the Oireachtas committee hearing last week. FG/Labour tend to be under-represented. You might say that’s because they’re in power and don’t want to rock the boat with inconvenient questions, but if they add to our store of knowledge, they will be reported.
Ireland’s business community is minuscule, also quite long memories and a vengeful place!
In the ‘about’ section above the intent is clearly explained,I post from a long way away and have no desire or interest in ever engaging with NAMA,or any Irish bank.Sean Fleming gets plenty of time on here,as does anyone who asks intelligent probing questions, unfortunately a lot of them, are parochial or not backed up by facts.
While Mick Wallace hardly requires more flak,here is a typical question,should this be the subject of a post.Its old news and more a statement than an actual question.The exchange degenerates into a slagging match.
“The Minister made the point that it is unlikely that anyone would go from the private sector into the public sector and get an increase in pay. For his information, I know some people who worked in banking and real estate and when they moved to NAMA they got an increase in salary. That is not very impressive. There has not been much accountability or transparency in how NAMA has done its business in that regard.”
Who exactly are ‘some people’ hardly earth shattering news that NAMA is not subject to FOI,but whats his point ?
If he wants transparency name the people he is referring too.
You have to scroll down for Mick’s contribution,this is more a reflection of your elective representatives,than anything else.
http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2012-07-04.319.0&s=nama#g343.3
[...] Ireland receives €26m from Greece on bailout loans – that’s a lot of feta! (namawinelake.wordpress.com) [...]