Noonan: Banks have capital for debt forgiveness
Finance Minister Michael Noonan said today that the capital is already in Irish banks to allow them to write off loans in a debt forgiveness scheme.
Minister Noonan said that it is a pressing issue for some families and will have to be dealt with, but insisted that it is manageable.
A group is to report to Government on the options available by the end of next month.
Speaking on his way in to today's Cabinet meeting, Minister Noonan insisted the banks are in a position to write off debt after the stress tests in March.
“We’re aware of the difficulty for some time of course - because we recapitalised, the capital is in the banks to allow the banks to write off some of that debt,” he said.
“So it’s a manageable problem, but it’s very onerous on certain individuals and the Government will deal with it.”
