FINANCE MINISTER Michael Noonan clashed with the independent TD Stephen Donnelly during a motion on the promissory note agreement in the Dáil last night.
The chamber was discussing a motion which welcomed the swapping of the promissory notes issued in respect of the former Anglo Irish Bank being replaced with government bonds when Donnelly’s contribution drew sharp criticism from Noonan.
Donnelly was critical of the government’s decision to not seek a writedown of the debt burden in negotiations with the European Central Bank and claimed that Greece had got a write down of €110 billion on its sovereign debt when it asked.
Noonan said this was not the case: “You’re doing what you always do, you’re misleading people. I heard you on the radio the other day. You were lying, you were lying on Marian Finucane the other morning.”
The Minister quickly withdrew the remark at the request of chairman Ciarán Lynch, saying: “I withdraw, he was misleading Marian Finucane”.
However he went on to say: “You pretend to have expertise… you mislead constantly.”
Watch (from 2m 55 sec)
YouTube: Stephen Donnelly
Earlier Noonan explained to the Dáil, the benefits of the agreement reached last week.
He said: “The principal benefit of this arrangement is that the promissory notes are gone.
“They will be exchanged for long-term Government bonds with an average maturity of 34 to 35 years as opposed to the seven to eight year average maturity of the promissory notes.
“The maturity of the bonds will have significant benefits from a market perspective, as it ensures the liability to repay is beyond most credit investors’ time horizon.”
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